CHEMISTRY IN DETECTION OF CRIME.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3128, 31 July 1922, Page 7

CHEMISTRY IN DETECTION OF CRIME.

The French police department is. according to the Municipal Council Commission. using chemistry in the detection and unravelling of crimes to a greater extent than in any other counAlreadv export in the methods of Bert"lion', Locard and other scientists who base their decisions of identity upon classified digital imprints or facial characteristics, Prefect I.cnlliers’ special service of chemical detectives is growing at such a. rate that a budget, will be provided hereafter in order to enable the analysts to prove their contention that even the cleverest criminal is likely to stumble over such imperceptible things as atoms. The reconstitution of documents which have been partially erased —one of the most frequent forms of forgery—is becoming easier daily, say the laboratory experts of the Prefecture of Police. Bv‘ analysis of the composition of the ink used and the application of certain chemicals to the erased portion which is then photographed under special rays now being developed in Paris, missing letters and phrases can bo brought out in relief on tho photographic negative. Even papers burned in an effort to conceal crime no longer baffle French detectives. In a murder mystery not vet entirely solved, as the corpse of the ; victim was never recovered, the police succeeded, by applying chemicals to small scraps of charred paper, in obtaining proof that the crime probably ’ was committed by a demobilised soldier, serving with the Seventh Artillery scct:on. Under the French law, however, prosecution is impossible until the ’ corpse is recovered, save in a lew instances. such as the Laudru case, where the accumulation of evidence was sufficient to convince the ordinary jury. No arrest has been made, butthe police have the suspect under constant surveillance. The Department of Criminal Chemical Investigation was first given its practical opportunity in Paris during the war. when the city’s chemists discovered the necessary silver reagents which would enable them to read se- ; cret writing on linen handkerchiefs found in tla i wardrobes of suspected spies. Military records show that at least half a dozen spies were executed x as a result of conclusive evidence ol guilt obtained in this manner. ‘ Such success, coupled with the fact that anthropometric and digital measurements last year led to conviction in t 12G cases out of 1000 finger-prints taken, seems to warrant the prediction of tlie famous French detective of the last century who said that tho pro--1 gross of human discovery finally would make crime impossible.

The City Council has decided that funds for this purpose, must not be denied, even if the streets of Paris go unrepaired and the capital’s traffic tangle becomes hopelessly congested.