"ELECTRIC EYE."

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 31, 6 February 1936, Page 9

"ELECTRIC EYE."

CRIME DETECTION. fURTHER USE OF SCIENCE. IDENTIFYING criminals. I i I (From Our Own Correspondent.) j SAX FRANCISCO, January 15. I To supplement the use of fingerprints j as a means of identifying criminals a j new instrument known as tlie "electric ! eye" recently has been employed by the I United States Department of Justice. It is used with the spectograph, with which astronomers recognise the different elements in far-off heavenly bodies. Each element has what may be termed fingerprints of its own and under the new eye the atoms of which an element is composed may be seen as plainly as the whorls on a human linger. Under the electric eye, which is keener than any microscope, a piece of evidence 110 larger than a pinhead may become a highly important factor in crime detection. It lias been used in detecting iron in an atom of earth dropped from the shoe of a suspect- in an automobile he had driven. Another motorist was held 'by police as the result of evidence furnished by the eye in a repainted license plate, the eye showing that while the original paint contained zinc, the substitute was made with lead, although the colours were identical. If scicnce continues to develop new means of aiding detectives it may be that in time it may become a still greater factor in crime detection and by its deterrent effect reduce the her of America's criminals, according to the opinion of experts who are ling with the current crime wave in United States. m