MODERN DETECTIVE

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 112, 14 May 1930, Page 4

MODERN DETECTIVE

NOTHING LIKE FICTION

SYSTEM HIS WEAPON

EEHAXCE ON EXPEETS

■ The detective of to-day is .'little like fhe figure of fiction,- says Raymond. Daniell in'the "New York Times." "Like everything else, deteetior.'of crime .is"'becoming much'more highly systematised. ■ " ■:'■/'■ ' A jewellery store has been held up. ■Three men, one gripping a pistol, dash ' 'into the street. A policeman in uniform" runs from the corner, drops two of them with a jiu-jitsu trick learned in Police College and fells the third with his nightsticK. By the time the bandits start, scrambling to their feet, ■ the patrolman has them covered with his revolver. For this coup a grateful Police Commissioner makes him a detective, tilled grade, mueli in the manner of a sovereign conferring knighthood upon a loyal subject. An incident, of that sort has been the reason for the selection of many of New York's 1500 detectives. The 'method of choice is thus based upon the sometimes erroneous premise that a \brave patrolman is bound to be a smart 'detective.. That it works as well as it does is due not to any mental change that takes'place with the shedding of a blue Uniform and brass buttons, but to an organised system of crime defection,, the functioning of which is dependent upon a few experts and a large number of trustworthy individuals doing ' routine tasks. , , ' ' Once the accolade lias been bestowed, the recipient without nioro ado becomes full-fledged, detective. Henceforth 'you, will find him assigned to a precinct squad in a dingy office .on the second floor of a police station. Its; walls are plastered with photographs of wanted men. Oak desks of the roll-top variety and ordinary kitchen chairs are its furniture. ■ Its visitors" are : that motley army of those who seek and those who are sought. "Women come in search of lost jewels, missing husbands, protection, help. Men call to complain and to explain. For each, ease there is a prescribed niethod of procedure—trailing, "planting, '' viewing the- rogues' gallery, comparing fingerprints, ' notifying pawnshops, and -whatnots. ■ The modern detective sails a charted sea, but the ■ variations of -each case provide him with an opportunity to use his own knowledge, skill, and experience. Upon the intelligence with which he applies himself depends-his usefulness and success. '• ',"■'' . ' . LEANS ON EXPEETS. It is seldom that:he is endowed with the omniscience of the detectives of fiction. Usually he lacks their seem/- / ingly superhuman powers of deduction. * Informers, or ".stool pigeons,' 1 experts ■within the department, and artificial aids take their place.. 'Nor is the story- ' book portrait of the detectives' appearance an accurate one. Due to thoir manner of appointment, the workaday sleuths seldom conform to a type, although usually- they are recognisable ,to crooks and to each other for what they are. The New .-York detective.is not always flat-footed, "although often he clings to the black service shoe of Ms uniformed 'days., Nor is he always bull-necked.. . . Prior to joining the Department he may have been a steam-fitter, a< longshoreman, or a white collar worker. One detective studied for the priesthood and became a policeman when matrimony side-tracked him from his chosen profession. Another started out to be a prize-fighter, but gave up a career in the ring on the theory, that though the profits on .the force were smaller the expectation of life was jgreater. . In some respects nearly all detectives are alike, however. From constant association with liars and crooks they de- ■ "velop a hypersensitive suspicion. Like Inost men whose work keeps them away from home a great deal of the'time, they have an inordinate love of home and fireside. Nearly all have a strong conviction that in dealing with gangsters and gunmen strong-arm methods are best. A short length of rubber hose and a strong right arm have solved more crimes than logic and intelligence, they will tell you. Cruel and hard in dealing with criminals, they often are sentimentalists at heart, unable to hear a hard-luck story, without digging down into their pockets. SYSTEMATISATION. Knowledge of practical psychology fend an understanding of human nature ■ are the qualities essential to the making of a really good detective, according to Deputy-Chief Inspector Edward P. jVlulrooney, head of the detective division, after thirty-three years of observation. But .instances of individual initiative and shrewdness are not so common or so essential as they once were. The business of solving crime, like nearly everything else, is becoming more systematised. Faced with a mysterious case, the modern detective is more likely to ask a solution through one of the many aids at his disposal than to sit brooding upon theories. The Bureau of Criminal Identification at police headquarters, for instance, hSs more than 1,000,000 , finger-prints -o,f known criminals and upward of 300,----.000 photographs. They have provided the key to many a mystery. The science of ballistics is making it possible to .trace a slayer's weapon from the bullet removed from his victim: Chemistry nnd the surgery of the autopsy room constantly make harder the way of the murderer. Take a typical case. A safe has been fobbed in an office building on Fifth avenue in the 'forties. Two detectives from the East Fifty-first Street Station are assigned to tho case. Meanwhile the crime has been reported, to headquarters. A member of the safe and loft equad is sent along to help them. The chances are it. will be John Morrissey, pnd perhaps he .will-have' Herman Lefrine with him." . ' ' A SELECT BAND. Safe-cracking, unlike ordinary burjglary, is a highly specialised art. It is seldom attempted by amateurs, and when it is so attempted it is rarely successful. Morrissey knows all the old-timers; knows their methods, and after examining the safe can.usually make a pretty good guess as to which ono of the dozen or more gangs in the United States committed the crime. If the "can-opener" method was used, for instance, Morrissey would suspect the safe was opened by a pupil of Jake nnd Leon Kramer, who introduced it to the United States, and who now are serving life sentences at Clinton Prison as members of the notorious Whittemore gang. Immediately an alarm is broadcast for the apprehension of the Buspects. The "ezperting" does not stop there. While Morissey is looking tilings over another detective is going over every bit of fnrniture with a powerful magnifying glass—real detectives actually Carry them —looking for fingerprints, .Unless the cracksmen have been untisually cautious they are almost certain to have left the telltale marks fcoinewhere. "When the marks are found, jfine powder is sprayed upon them and jlhen dusted gently . off. Wherever the ridges of the fingers /have pressed down, they will have left pnly exudations to which the powder fcticks, emphasising the loops and Jvhoils. The marks arc photographed pnd enlarged. Then they; are compared

with the records down-town. Often they' furnish a positive identification, moro valuable in court than the thief s calling card would be, and usually Morrissey's guess is corroborated. From then on it is chiefly a matter of capturing tho suspect, although the detective work generally continues, in an effort to trace the salo of the cracksman's tools, and in hunting for possible accomplices on the inside. Experiments are being made now to determine whether a way can be found satisiactorily to take fingerprints from bodies and from clothing. FINDING THE SUSPECT. Once a suspect is settled upon, all the resources of the police departments of New York and other cities aro set to work to capture him. Pictures are broadcast throughout the .land. His wife will- bo watched, her telephone wires, tapped. His haunts will be shadowed. Information of his whereabouts will be sought from underworld informers, and traps will be set for him. There are other experts like Morrissey in the department. Abraham 'Stratton, who died recently, could tell by a glance inside a watch case or underneath" a bracelet, where the article was made, how much it cost, and eliminate all but half a dozen retailors as the sellers. He did: this by learning the manufacturers' marks, indistinguishable to unpractised eyes. Most of his lore he taught to Inspector '; Joseph ■•'•Donovan, who is carrying on his work, invaluable in trapping a thief claiming property as his own, and in identifying bodies by the jewellery upon them. ' ' . ■'.<-. Joseph Toner and William Eaftis, of the pickpocket squad, boast that they caii tell a pickpocket before lie makes a move, and have proved it upon occasion to doubting Thomases. Lieutenant Edward Dillon has trapped "many an automobile thief by .his knowledge of where each' manufacturer "places each of the plates bearing the car's serial number. The average thief, wily, enough j to. change the plates, in .four -.or five places to correspond with faked bills of, sale, almost always overlooks one j or. more.'' That is where Dillon's knowledge effectually comes in. . ; In the bomb squad there is Sergeant Emil Polhegani, who thwarted a plot to dynamite St. Patrick's Cathedral byj joining the conspirators. He played' his part so well that it was not until the would-be bombers went on trial that they knew he had double-crossed them. Two othpr noteworthy actors in tho department are Sergeant John M'Meonnemy and , Policewoman ' Margaret Schneider, who works with him in trapping vendors of narcotics. Hundreds j of peddlers of heroin, cocaine, and morphine have been caught by them, and are now behind prison bars. Harry Butts, the bespectacled little pistol expert of the department, has achieved so widespread a reputation that other cities are constantly requesting his aid in murder cases. : STILL IN VOGUE. There is one other aspect of crime detection. That is the use of "stool pigeons." How general the practice is can only be guessed at, but certainly it figures in many arrests, which tho detective can explain only by saying: "Oh, I got information that led me to believe " ' * It is equally certain that' it played an even more prominent part in the detective work of tho past. It is a sordid business. This is how it works. A detective, finding difficulty in solving his cases, makes a bargain with an old offender to let" him carry on his racket unmolested in exchange for underworld information! Or the bargain may be made with a young offender, caught for the first time for a minor offence. The detective suggests to the court that since this is "the first time the kid's gone wrong," another chance would do no harm. ■'.-:. ■ • <