CAUGHT BY EARS

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 11493, 21 November 1931, Page 11

CAUGHT BY EARS

THE YARD’S NEW “WRIN-

KLES.”

Scotiand Yard is making use or two new devices in the tecnuique IJt criminal identification, which, some police authorities believe, may soon displace in importance the fingerprint- system which has been in existence for more than 30 years. One device is a unique system of “ear pictures.” The other i.-; a method for comparing the palm imprints ot criminals. Identification by the ear is a wrinkly which lias been adopted from the police systems of T'aris and V ienua, and is based on the belief that the human ear is more individual than any finger-print. There are. many proved eases of two criminals being exactly alike in features, coloring, and so on. only the ears being different. It is claimed that no two cars can be found to be similar in every detail. The new system first of all classifies ears by their shape, and the ancle at which they are set- to the head. After that an important feature is the way in which the lobe of the car meets the cheek. -Incidentally. experts have noticed that m criminal types there is rarely ’ n J sign of a lobe. NO TWO ALIKE. Other points are the hollow of tho car, the slight protuberance at .me top known as the ‘'Darwinian pustule,” the borders and the folds. These parts are divided into sections, and it is a fact that while two men may have oii(_> of these divisions alike, no two ears are alike in mure than three or four characteristics. A recent case of ear identification illustrates the value of the system. In this instance two French detectives were in London seeking a crook whose police record lmd been destroyed with the exception of the ••'ear pictures.” Waiting near the barrier at I jctcria Station, they studied the ears of the passengers' until they spotted the ears they had in mind. ' The criminal had disguised himself >u every other respect, but ihe ears had baffled him. London detectn es receive instruction in the new system from an officer who utilises a large-scale model of an car divided into various sections which lead to identification. The use Scotland Yard is making ot palm imprints was disclosed before a London magistrate recently bv De-tective-Inspector i rederick Chori ill of the Finger-Print Bureau. Ho saiu it may prove as effective as fingerprint ‘identification.