DETECTIVES

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 12 February 1927, Page 9

DETECTIVES

‘•■REDDING detectives are nowadays caught young. Careful watch is kept- on all young constables for qua kties of resource, temperament, initiative, -and intelligence, and they are placed in plain clothes on some special occasions. The first test .applied to them' is based on their looks. They may look wbiat they plea.se in the Avide world, .saA r e and only detectives. It is a fatal disqualification to look like' a police officer out of uniform.” This is the first stage in the selection of detect hes, relates Mr. George Dilnot in his book on Scotland Yard (London : Geoffrey Bios). Next the candidate is

TRAINING IN SCOTLAND YARD

psussed auto a special soiiooi ioundeu oy air iiidvs a.d J±emv m i'JUS. i/uimy, six inontmV piouutiou a eatteiias ieem-re* any. lessons on every conceivable .subject with which a detective must have some juauxein.isudes-auu-Lue con tectum or criminal apparatus rn the Mack .Uuwimi are n»*ea tor purposes ol illustration. “There are lectures on law, ' says Mr. Dilnot, “on evidence, on the pi lattice of courts, on medico-legal .subjects, on police regulations and practice. The pitfalls that beset a hasty or ignorant, oiticer are pointed out. lie is taught the methods hi criminals Iroin gambling simps to forgets. I rom pickpockets to petty sneak thieves. He is shown jemmies and the different marks they may leave, coining implements, .shoplifting devices, and the latest apparatus in the march of scientific burglary. He is made aware when lie may arreisi without a warrant, and when ia warrant is necessary. All! that ingenuity and experience can .suggest for the confusion of the criminal ;j's taught him. He is shown where an expert must be called in, and when his own common sense must aid him. Ho is taught something of leeks, something of footprints, something of cipher reading. The uses of finger-prints the application of photography to the detection, of crime, the machinery .at his Tspo'sal in the Crime Index. . . . . There is the manner in which be. must keep a record, and the way in which to question a witness.” Melodramatic disguises are not now used at the “Yard.” but the beginner is taught how a., difference in dressing the hair, the combing out or waxing of a. moustache, the substitution of a. muffler for a collar, a cap for ta. bowler, "•ill alter his anpearaoce. Observations lvave been made in the guise of nigger minstrels and waitresses, “The curb of a clergyman.” savs Mr. Dilnot. “has always been a favourite disguise.”