SCOTLAND YARD.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 144, 19 June 1909, Page 13

SCOTLAND YARD.

Though the Home Secretary pufc a good face on the statistics about undiscovered crimes in the House of Com- j mons tho other night, Scotland Yard has struck a verj bad patch. No one is more conscious of 'it than the head officials of that wonderful department, iuto which complaints pour troni the public at the rate of over a dozen an hour. Ten mysterious murders in London alone have gone unpunished in six years — three of them within a little over twelve months. These have been very complex cases— cases in which the police have had the slenderest clues upon which to work — yet not one of them has exceeded in puzzling features the -crimes for which NeilJ Cream, the poi&oner, or Dougal, of Moat Farm notoriety, were broiight to justioe. / There have beeri widespread and in-, excusable failures in a wider field, where property r.ither than persons has suffered. London has been overrun by foreign thieves and swindlers, who have made haul aiter haul, and escaped scot free. To build up a formidable list would not be difficult, but* it would serve no purpose. It is worth bearing in mind, too, that Scotland-, Yard is much less under a cloud than is the Paris detective system at present. The unpleasant fact is that in two or three cases it has been a fair battle of brains between the detectives and the criminals, and the former, in spite of a bit of start, have been worsted. The robbery of the ingots from the Exhibition took place at a building supposedly under constant surveillance. The thieves ascertained who were the detectives, secured accomplices to distract their attention to another pavilion, and then committed the robbery. I happen to kuow ol a particularly expert bank thief who is now enjoyuig a /ather unusually prolonged peiiod- - for him — of liberty. He lives in a house which is furnished wiLh the taste of a true artjst; he subscribes to a fashionable library, and attends church on Sundays. lou may meet him in tho sheet carrying three or four books — Spanish, lu-encli, and Italian classics. He is occasionally mistake^ in tht neighbourhood in which he has settled for an author, or a ioreign professor. Yet that is a man who has been an outlaw in many countries, and has dove several long terms of penal serotiul'j fiad his genius not beeu misapplied he would fobably have% become famous— ■ ii.stead of simply notorious. .bees our criniiral investigation dc paitment, ine'eed maki- sumcipnt allowance for the higher trained intelligences with which they have to deal in these ilnys, when education is rnpidlv <ie-n-o'i&hing social and ii-ternaliomi! batliers ? / Until two or three j 4 ears ago the Yard was recruited only from the police forco — detective work was open simply to men who could win a leputation for smartness in the humdrum routine of constabulary duty. That has now been altered, and chances are' givon to men, with special aptitude for the work, drawn from a rather higher" social stratum. At present the nun>ber is few, ar.d Scotland Yard has plenty of officers who go about knowing no other lan guag-3 but their own, and havii^ little Knowledge of chemistry or medieval science, more than a smattering of nhich is needed by those •who have to attempt to checkmate tl.e Professor Mo riartys, of whom real life has a larger number than sonve people imagine. England is the happy hunting-ground of alien criminals because of the linguistic imperfections of the guardians of the public safety. Tho first of the men to be drafted into the organisation under tho new scheme are reported strong at languages, which bo fai is good. But the department is not being recruited from tho' educated classes generously enough, and it seems to mo that that is the real secret why the task oi detecting crimes with really Euzzling features is beginning to be eyond the organisation. In old days ploddfere served well enough. The twentieth century demands something more. Of labour the average detective of tho Yard is unsparing. His endurance compels one's siixcere admiration. Having met many ot tho men in charge of the graver enquiries for some time ppst, I yield to none in my admira- | tion of their self -forgetting industry. In most callings it would secure success. Here, however, laboul-, unless directed I by very acute brains, is often so much wasted effort. What is the conclusion of tho whole matter? That never was there a time when greater brilliancy was needed in those who undertake the problems of •criminaJ investigation. To moet that demand steps must be taken to attract brilliant and resourceful men, keen students of human nature, and men whose minds are stocked with more than the average sum of detailed knowledge of people and things. iSuch men will not be attracted by a remuneration which s aiever sufficient to free a dotective from •temptations to gain such as ought dot ■but frequently are put in his way. Skilleu work, dangerous work, and work that must be done with complete disregard of proper times tor meals and deep warrants liberal treatment. Scotland Yard must raise its tone if it is to maintain and improve its former high traditions. —^Tanchester Chronicle.