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Template:Did you know nominations/James Smart (police officer)

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The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by AirshipJungleman29 talk 12:18, 26 November 2024 (UTC)

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James Smart (police officer)

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James Smart
James Smart
  • ... that Keir Starmer described Chief Constable James Smart (pictured) as "one of the founding fathers of the Scottish Police"?
  • Source: McGowan, John (30 November 2022). Policing the Metropolis of Scotland: A History of Police in The City & County of Edinburgh, 1833-1901 (Volume I). Turlough Publishers. p. 1554. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
  • ALT1 ... that Chief Constable James Smart (pictured) flooded police courts with over 17,000 cases to prove how impractical it was for police to light the people of Glasgow's stairs?
  • ALT2 ... that Chief Constable James Smart (pictured) flooded police courts with over 17,000 cases to prove how impractical it was for home owners to light their own stairs?
    • Created by Sahaib (talk). Number of QPQs required: 1. Nominator has 34 past nominations.

    Sahaib (talk) 09:36, 16 October 2024 (UTC).

    • Hi Sahaib, review follows: article moved to mainspace on 16 October and is of good length; article is well written and cited inline throughout; I hadn't heard of the publisher used for the citaiton for the hook but the author looks like they are reliable, holding a PhD and having written on the history of Scottish police elsewher (and being a former police superintendent); hook fact is mentioned in the article and supported by the source; image is OK and looks to be public domain by virtue of age; I didn't pick up any issues with overly-close paraphrasing from the online sources; a QPQ has been carried out. Looks OK to me - Dumelow (talk) 10:24, 16 October 2024 (UTC)
    Hi Sahaib your hook currently says it was to demonstrate it was impracticable for the police to light the stairs but the article says it was to prove that it shouldn't lie with the homeowner and then was taken on by the police board. What does stairs mean in this context; I am presuming public streets like the Waverley Steps or the Vennel in Edinburgh? In reading the article I also came across a sentence I couldn't work out: "On 28 August 1850, Smart ended the practice of night constables deciding their hours and half hours with the exception of five and half past five." presumably "deciding" is the wrong word here? - Dumelow (talk) 17:18, 21 November 2024 (UTC)
    @Dumelow: you are correct, I changed it. (later in 1866 they no longer become the responsibility of police, so I can see why I got confused) The book "The First Chief Constable" is not available online, I went to the National Library of Scotland to use the book to create a draft, the full sentence from this edit "On 28 August 1850, Smart ended the practice of the night constables calling the hours and half hours with the exception of five and half past five." I do not know what that means. Sahaib (talk) 17:38, 21 November 2024 (UTC)
    Yes, I think ALT2 is OK. It used to be that wathchmen and the like would call out the hours of the clock; like the trope you see in old mediaeval films: "Six o'clock and all's well". That the Glasgow police did it is confirmed by p170 of Alison, Robert (1892). The Anecdotage of Glasgow: Comprising Anecdotes and Anecdotal Incidents of the City of Glasgow and Glasgow Personages. T. D. Morrison.. I think you could stick with "calling" or use "announcing" - Dumelow (talk) 17:48, 21 November 2024 (UTC)
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