LAW'S LONG ARM

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 113, 15 May 1930, Page 4

LAW'S LONG ARM

REACHING INTO AIR

HOW FLYING POLICE WORK

Already, with the development of aviation, tl& long arm of the law is reaching into the skies, writes T. J. C. Martyn, in the "New York Times." New York's air police are making a modest beginning. In time, it is not to be doubted, their duties will increase in number and complexity. For the present they are patrolling daily the outskirts of Manhattan. If a pilot be so bold as to descend below the legul altitude of- 2000 feet while flying over the city, a fast amphibian 'plane significantly marked P. D. and carrying the city's coat of arms will flash into view alongside him. The air policeman will probably do nothing more than take the offender's number and on his return to earth charge John Doe, flying aeroplane D.C.X. 1943, with contravening the air traffic regulations. It is then a, simple matter for the police to trace the 'plane, find out who was flying it, and serve the necessary summons. USING TWO 'PLANES. The police air unit has two 'planes in service. Both of them are amphibians for use in general patrol work. The remaining 'plane, a fast pursuit type, will, when it has been delivered, be kept in reserve for emergency work. AH 'planes will be manned by two police pilots, one to do the actual piloting, and the other to act as observer and radio operator. Thus it is possible for a 'plane out on patrol to receive instructions direct from police headquarters in exactly the same way as patrolmen on their beats receive directions from precinct headquarters. And thus a crook escaping with his booty in a high-powered motor-boat from the harbour may be surprised to find a swifter amphibian racing alongside him; The ominous P.D. will be sufficient warning for him to stop; if it is not, a few shots from a machine gun may be more compelling. Once the launch lias stopped, the amphibian will land, taxi up and take off the offender under arrest. Eventually, air police work assume greater proportions and encounter far grater difficulties. The history of crime lias shown that crooks and criminals have never been laggard in using the latest means of swift transportation. Dick Turpin found his mare Black Bess swift enough to hold up stage coaches. In our own day the automobile and the powerful motor launch are commonly Used by all manner of criminals, from bandits to murderers. It may therefore be expected that the aeroplane will become a favourite means for escape after the commission of a crime. " ' WHAT W,ILL HAPPEN. Let us take a hypothetical case. Arsense Lupinovitch, master criminal of Europe, decides to do away with his enemy, Baldo Beluchistan. With the scrupulous regard of a master crook he has left no detail to chance. Let us suppose that Baldo is found gassed dead in his room in a lonely house on the outskirts of Manhattan. Every shred of evidence except one-points to suicide; the windows and doors had been calked from the outside. Suspicion falls on Arsense Lupinovitch. A search for finger-prints, however, yields nothing. An investigation is started. The first shred of evidence is that a fast automobile was seen leaving the lane leading up to the house. The direction it took is uncertain. The time, however, was 3 o'clock in the morning, when few cars would be about. Alarm calls all over the city produce no reliable shred of a clue. The net is spread wider, and takes in the country police. From them comes a report that a large car wasfseen at 3.30 a.m., travelling in a southerly direction toward Hempstead. This gives the chief detective an idea. He cheeks up at Roosevelt Field. Nothing is known.there of a 'plane'having taken off in the early morning. ANOTHER CLUE. The chief detective persists. . Further investigations bring to light the fact that a 'plane landed on the field at about 3 o'clock and took off immediately. From other sources comes the information that the 'plane took off at 4 o'clock, and was heard by several people. The .theory is advanced that after the 'plane landed it taxied out to an obscure corner of the field. The night was clear and moonlit at ; th'e time, although nobody actually saw the 'plane and nobody knew in what direction it had flown. Thirty-six hours after the initial police investigations have ended the air police are on the trail of Arsene Lupinovitch. ; "The question is;" Air Chief Detective Patrick O'Grady asked himself, "did the 'plane floi.off to Canada, over to anither State, down to Mexico, or, begorrah, did it floi, indade, to Oirland?" : The alarm is spread to every air police unit in the country, in Canada, and in Mexico. A careful check-up.reveals nothing. The chase, already nearly two days late, seems hopeless. A glimmer of light is shed when the Federal air police at the two borders report nothing and the Canadian and Mexican air police report that no 'plane has been seen flying, over or has landed on their territory that was unaccounted for. ■ ' ••:" ■ ' , caught: There is a slim chance, then, that the 'plane had flown out to sea. This fits in with the suspicion that Arsense would attempt to regain his native land, Abegonia, in the heart .'of Europe. Bermuda is radioed. /Yes, a powerfully-engined 'plane landed there at 11 o'clock the day following, and was not able to take off again until 10 o'clock the next morning on account of repairs. One of the passengers corresponded to the suspected Arsense Lupinovitch. The international air police at the Azores are radioed. A description of the 'plane and its number follows from / Bermuda. The description tallies, but tne number does not, and before the Azores police discover the ruse the 'plane has again taken off. Chase is promptly given, but Arsene's 'plane is too fast.1- A potrol is radioed, ' and speeds trf cut the fleeing 'plane off. A few shots are exchangedat long distance, and 'Arsene, seeing that his game is up, turns back to America. Word flashes to Bermuda and New York. Within fifteen minutes after Arsense has turned tail the emergency air squad of the New York police force is purring out to sea at 300 miles an hour. Two hours later John Mulvany, New York air detective, discovers the 'plane on the sea next to a steamer. An -alarm, call brings the squad together and within fifteen minutes Arsense Lupinovitch is handcuffed and aboard the air cutter Daisy, returning to New York. ALREADY USED. As far-fetched and as impossible ,as this seems to-day, within, twenty-five years it may well be realised in all but its unessential details. Who knows? In point of fact, the aeroplane has already been used by the New York police in connection with a charge of manslaughter. That was when Captain William G. Baker of' the tug Harry S. Keeler was wanted for striking and killing William Mehaffey, captain of a coal barge, in a fight. Owing to the fact that Mehaffey's condition was at first not. thought to be serious, the alarm for Baker was not sent out for twelve hours, by which, time he was proceeding up the Sound toward Boston with three bai'ges in tow. Police headquarters at once sent out a 'plane iv pursuit. An amphibian, carrying a. police party of five and a pilot, started early in the afternoon. Within two hours the Harry S. Keeler had been sighted off New London, Conn. The Sound, however, was so rough that the amphibian could not land. Moreover, the 'plane was not a police machine, carried no police identification marks, and no wireless. Thus it was not possible for Baker to recognise that a police 'plane was after him. On the other hand, the police, being helpless, had to continue to New London and take up the chase by boat. : '■■'■- AMPHIBIAN AGAIN. The chase by boat likewise ended in failure, and as the first signs of dawn appeared next day the chase was again taken up by the amphibian, more than twenty-four hours after the crime had been committed. The tug was eventually picked up. in the Cape >Cod Canal and there was no difficulty in landing the 'plane alongside it. Deputy Chief Inspector Edward P. Mulrooney, in charge of the detective division, who was in command of the party, then boarded the tug and persuaded Baker to return to New York with him. Baker turned the tug. over to his first mate arid was taken aboard the amphibian and carried'oft' to New York. Thus did 'the city receive its first prisloner to be captured by, air,