MOBILE PATROLS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 205, 30 August 1926, Page 10

MOBILE PATROLS.

POLICE INNOVATIONS. INSTANTANEOUS SUCCESS. ONE £1100 HAUL. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, August 20. A recent innovation in New South Wales police methods was the purchase of nine new motor cars for use in the main city divisions and suburban areas as swift motoi patrols. Their efficacy has bee proved already, as their mobility enables the divisions to be patrolled more meticulously and far oftener than by the foot system. Collections of hoodlums on street corners are now conspicuous by their absence, and minor crime has dropped to a minimum, many thieves being caught in the act by the swift patrols. This week, however, "further laurels were attained by the Service, when one of the patrols recovered a stolen motor car, in which £1200 worth of jewellery had been left, half an hour after the theft of the car. Watches worth £110 were missing, but the rest of the stuff was found by the police. The car and the jewellery are the property of Arthur Cocks and Company, wholesale jewellers, of York Street, Sydi.ey, and it was left outside a large store in George Street on Tuesday afternoon. Five minutes later the traveller looked for his car, but it had disappeared. Nearby police were informed, and news of the theft was sent to the divisional patrol. Members of the patrol kept a sharp look-out, and within half an hour of the theft saw the car turn into a lane in Pyrmont, about a mile away from the scene of the theft. They followed, and found the car abandoned. On the ground nearby were strewn rings, brooches and other articles of jewellery worth £1100. Residents in the lane where the police found the stolen car told them that the men who drove it there jumped out, made a grab at the contents of the attache case in which the jewellery was kept, and ;hen ran away. Immediate arrests are anticipated. Other matters in which the patrols have proved invaluable include the better regulation of street traffic, the presence of the cars, which are plainly numbered "P.D.0.0.," serving to make motorists keep to regulation speed and observe the other traffic rules so frequently transgressed. Their presence also prevents the congregation of "drunks" round hotel premises after hours, as an inebriated person is immediately picked up and lodged in the police station. So far the move has had excellent results, and even better things are expected. The efficiency of the police is increased at least 50 per cent by their use.