ON THE INCREASE

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 31, 5 August 1930, Page 7

ON THE INCREASE

FEMALE SLEUTHS

WOMAN'S NEW FIELD

(By T. D. Irwin.) (Copyright.)

"The propensities of women to-day arc inclining towards crime as a profession," declares Mary E; Hamilton, head of the Women's Bureau in New York's Police Department. "The woman criminal is being exploited by her male partner, commissioned to the most difficult and often the most dangerous tasks. Since it'takes a woman to understand a woman, there is need for capable woman" detectives. And lam glad to sec that women are awakening to the opportunities in this most interesting though frequently hazardous profession." The glowing importance of female sleuths also may be attributed to causes other than the fact that women operators can better cope with the growing number of criminals of their own sex. It has been found that women have been able to get to the bottom of a situation without creating suspicion where a male detective has failed, for they rarely look their part. Also contributing to the increased use of women as detectives is the greater freedom of the sex, their accessibility to- more places than formerly. Many women in business, moreover, prefer to deal confidentially -with women detectives, -when they are in need of assistance; and here is where the female department of a detetcive agency comes into play. Frequently the woman running her own bureau finds herself in the position of "community mother,"' with her clients bringing her all their troubles, minor and major. Domestic .problems, especially often have a female sleuth involved in their settlement. OLD METHODS. One of the best known of the female divorce investigators died recently in New York City. Mrs. Hulda Altngrem started lier career as a detective at the age of sixteen in the office of District Attorney Backus, and when she secured her licence iii' 1909 she Was perhaps the first official woman detective in the United States. Her auxiliaries were mainly of her own sex; her methods, those of the old-fashion-ed fiction sleuth. At her death sha left a tnmkful of wigs, disguise clothing, paint, nnd such devices to which she habitually resorted. s Crime, both in the United States and Europe, to-day is marked by less violence and more white collar banditry than it used to be. To foil tliese confidence crooksand swindlers, the gentler sex has many times proven better investigators than men. The woman operator is usually kept in the background, for her great value lies in having her identity unsuspected,by the'underworld. She is employed in almost ievery type of case, and on innumerable different angles. She may be used as the decoy; as the other half of a couple to avert suspicion from the male detective; or as a hotel detective. She is stationed quite generally now" in department stores to trace unexplained losses or to watch for yomen shoplifters in sections' where men would be out,of»place. FINGERPRINT EXPERTS. A number of women have been trained to become fingerprint experts. They enter a hotel*or apartment p_osing perhaps as maids, to secure the needed _ prints. In locating missing persons, particularly girls, the female investigator has no equal. She ia'iarely employed, however, in shadowing, for the simple reason of a woman standing in a public spot for hours is apt to attract undesirable attention. The vogue for female detectives received its greatest impetus during the World War, tvhen women Secret Service agents accomplished commendable wor in trapping spies. It was seen, perhaps for the first time, that women could be of incalculable Talue in almost any line of investigation— for there is a feminine angle in practically every problem confronted. Qualities most to be desired in female operators, according to managers of detective agencies, are tact, patience, imagination, keen observation, and the ability to secure, information without giving any in return. Freedom from home ties and a of the world are essential GROWING NUMBERS.. Notwithstanding the seeming tages to which they are subject, women continue .to swell the ranks of the detective fraternity more and more each year. Where ionce a police department >or detective agency was No Woman's Land, to-day every bureau recognises the necessity of retaining a number of female operators on its staff. : Many agencies report considerable, tecent increases of this sort in their forcfesj'; ■ One international detective agen6y noWfUties double.the number of women operators it employed five years ago. Another prominent detective bureau to-day has a staff of which one-fifth are female. Other reputable agencies vary, but the majority show a substantial feminine increase in the last few years. Already there are women-at the heads of a number of detective bureaus throughout the United States, these organisations employing chiefly female operators and have a clientele composed in the main of yvomen.