MELBOURNE CRIME

Evening Star, Issue 18716, 19 August 1924, Page 7

MELBOURNE CRIME

MURDER AND THEFTS. Melbourne has been drenched in blood during the past week, and the murder, so brutal and nauseous, of Irene Tnckcrman, criminologists say, was a natural culmination of the exaggeration of small crime and the laxity of authority (writes the Sydney correspondent of the Auckland ‘ Star ’ under date August 8). As a study the way in which criminal events have moved in "the southern capital is interesting to follow. The present crime wave there—and there is no doubt that the authorities are faced with a serious problem—can be traced right from the outset. In tho first place public belief in tho was shaken when several cases of daring raids on card parties by masked men went unpunished. It seemed that the perpetrators of these outrages could do just as they pleased. Following those happenings, one Saturday night~produced four cases of street robberies, some at tho point of the revolver, and those were, given great prominence. The succeeding days saw every robbery—which, in ordinary times, would have been passed over—magnified into a sensational occurrence, and mcmlieis of the public soon became panicky. But that was not the worst feature. At the height of the. excitement a high police official was interviewed on the question of the crime wave, and he was so indiscreet as to suggest that members of the public should arm to protect themselves. As .an admission of police failure this statement, was terrific, and the public, already alarmed by tho turn events had taken, became panicky in an instant. Members of tho underworld read between the lines also, and they became more daring. Real hold-ups occurred nightly over a long period, and, though the police worked overtime to make an impression on the growing crime, their success was not striking, and the restraint which is usually exorcised over the criminal population seems to have been swept aside altogether. The effect of such relaxation on the warped minds of some persons can bo gauged easily. Fear of punishment, it is admitted, alone keeps some of them inside the law, and tho abominable sexual criminals seem to have pecognised their opportunity. Young girls were assaulted in various suburbs of Melbourne, and the outbreak reached a pinnae,lo when the body of Irene Tnckerman, outraged and strangled, was discovered at Caulfield. And now another deliberate murder has been reported from Melbourne, ono man taking careful aim with a rifio and shooting another for a real or fancied wrong. Armed footpads have really become a serious menace, and citizens are considering the formation of a vigilance comn’iit.tee to”assist the police. Possibly tho whole trouble has its real root in the police strike, when so much license was enjoyed by criminals, and men who were always on the border were made criminals by the lawlessness that prevailed at the time. At any rate, all Melbourne is nervy. Citizens going home from night visiting or from the theatres and picture shows choose (he centre of the roadway rather than walk on the footpath, where every shadow may .contain some footpad waiting to pounce on them. After 8 o’clock tho footpaths are practically deserted, and to ask a stranger for a match is considered to bo asking for trouble.

Women unaccompanied aro not seen in the streets after dark*