THE CRIME EPIDEMIC

Evening Star, Issue 25699, 24 January 1946, Page 7

THE CRIME EPIDEMIC

SOURCE IN BLACK MARKET fFrom Our Co-respondent.) . (By Air Mail.) • LONDON, January li'. We scarcely needed Scotland Yard's assurance that the tons et orlgo of London's crime wave may be sought in the black market. Until that now very considerable industry is effectually grappled with .and suppressed, which may not be quite such an easv ]oh as some people imagine, we shall have the crime wave with us. The black market furnishes not only incentive i.nci ways and means, but thrives la/gely on the criminal activities of Army dpserters. It is the police estimate that there are now loose in London, and entirely without means of honest subsistence, some two thousand deserters from the British services, as well as several hundred*from the Canadian and other Allied forces. These men constitute a grave menace to peace and order in the metropolitan area, and the task of rounding them up may take some tinje, especially with the existing shortage of police personnel. Scores of hold-ups take place, usually at night, of which the public hears nothing. Visitors should particularly beware of anyone who offers them a lift in a car after dark, or even before dark.