SCOTLAND YARD.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 60, Issue 104, 12 February 1940, Page 3

SCOTLAND YARD.

? INVESTIGATION DEPARTMENT.

MOST MODERN EQUIPMENT

- LONDON, January .3

The new home of . the Criminal Investigation. Department of Scotland Yard, a handsome building on the Thames Embankment near Westminster Bridge, should be completed early this year, says Stanley Firmin in the. “Daily Telegraph.” ' Long ago the C.T.D. outgrew its meagre accommodation in the old‘building, and when the new one is occupied London will be able to claim the most modern and scientific crime-fighting headquarters in the world. The Detective Department of Scotland Yard was first formed, in 1842. It consisted of eight men. To-day there are 1164 detectives in the C.1.D., of whom more than 300 are attached to the Central Office at Scotland Yard.

In*the new building, which will consist of 10 floors, with a total accommodation of 50,000 square feet of office space, the lay-out and equipment have been planned under the direction of Sir Norman Kendal, Assistant Commissioner of the C.I.D.

The task of transferring the C.I.D. to its new home will have to he accomplished in one week-end. Just what that means may be gauged from tin?, fact that more than 500,000 fingerprints will have to be moved in. little more than 24 hours and filed in such a way that any known criminals’ fingerprints can be found in a few seconds. Another interesting removal will be that of the famous “Black Museum,” which contains some of the most gruesome crime relics to be found anywberfc in the world. # ln the new building the relics will be displayed in large glass cases, and will constitute an amazing, if rather grim, exhibition. Scientific Laboratory'. A laboratory equipped with the latest scientific apparatus used in the detection of crime will be one of the outstanding features in the new building, while the photographic branch, so important in these times, will have a daylight studio- on the top floor. The nerve centre Of the whole building, however, will lie in the basement, where special wireless information and telephone rooms are being equipped with the latest apparatus. From here messages will bo flashed to flying squad cars and police vans in all parts of the metropolis, and the Yard’s lightning war on criminals speeded up even more than at present.'

The Special Branch, which is an offshoot of the C.I.D. engaged on duties relating io public safety and protection of prominent-personages, will occupy two floors. Thus for the firsttime the whole of the C.T.D. togethey with the departments it controls, will be housed in the same building. The name “Scotland Yard” was derived from the fact that it was once the site of a palace of the reception of Kings and Queen? of Scotland when they first visited the English Court*