ARM OF THE LAW.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 264, 7 November 1931, Page 3 (Supplement)

ARM OF THE LAW.

STILL LENGTHENING

SYSTEM TIGHTENED UP.

The arm of the law is lengthening in Britain. Under the latest system adopted by the police an invisible net, spreading over hundreds of miles, can be brought about by the touch of a key. _ The creation of a national crime-fighting machine, the necessity for which has been urged for some time past, has been brought a good deal nearer as the result of recent exchanges of views between detective chiefs of London and important provincial cities.

The feeling is growing more widespread that the time has arrived when a unified detective force for the whole of the country has become necessary if the modern crook is to be dealt with effectively. It is all a question of speed. There are still motor bandits, especially outside London, with such a keen appreciation of the value of time that they are able to make their raids, dash away, and keep several moves ahead of the police in the hue and cry. Vital Radio.

One plan that has been urged is the establishment of a number of Scotland Yard "branches" throughout the provinces, each having at its head a .Yard officer of long experience. By wireless and other ways each branch would be in direct and instant touch with Scotland Yard.

Thus the help of Scotland Yard and its unrivalled resources would be enlisted in every major crime, without awaiting the present necessity of a provincial police chief inviting the Yard to assist.

Meanwhile, New York police are experimenting with a system which lengthens the arm of the law by hundreds of miles. It is the establishment of what is known as a teletype system throughout the whole of New York State, linking up in instant communication the city with every town and village where there is a policeman. The teletype is a combination of the telegraph and the typewriter. When a crime is committed, say, in New York and the criminal dashes out of the city by car, details of the crook and car are flashed simultaneously to perhaps a hundred different stations.

The messages bring into life an invisible net that the crooks will find difficult to escape. It is a police net we may yet see spread in England.