CRIME DETECTION

Hokitika Guardian, 26 June 1935, Page 8

CRIME DETECTION

SCOTLAND YARD METHODS. WONDERFUL ORGANISATION. “It wil l be a revelation to my readers to learn that l had serving under me just one hundred plain clothes offices. One hundred detectives in a square mile! it almost sounds like overcrowding. But the following pages will reveal how peculiar and varied were the crimes enacted in the City of London, as to render it necessary for us to house the densest police, population in the who'e world, writes exChief Detective-Inspector Ernest Nich oils, in his book, “Crime Within the Square Mile.” “There have been many books written by the famous detectives, inspect ors and other officials of Scotland Yard, and it is sometimes overlooked that the City of London itself has a Wonderful organisation for the prevention of crime. Many of the cases cited by ex-inspector Nieholls naturally have a financial background, and the cases of Whitaker Wright, Bottomley, and others of the type appear in this entertaining volume. Mr Nieholls, however, does not confine himself to a record of cases. “In the police station that- we have several aids to man-hunting , about which the public hears but very little and knows less,’!'./says the author. “There are about 7000 police -stations in the country, and within five minutes of a crime being discovered details can be broadcast to all stations large and small from Scotland Y'ard. Wireless is becoming one of our most effectivi weapons; before long, television and telephotography, will he added to our crime fighting arms. The whole world if need be, can 'be informed in a few minutes of a crime, and usually with added details of the personality of tin perpetrators. “Scotland Y’ard are newspapei printers and publishes, of no mean order. The department prints all its own official publications, from its Year Book to an evening newspaper. Need less to sav, they are not on sale; to possess a copy is punishable under the Official Secrets’ Act. There is the Police Almanac, .vbich can be termed the police officers’ vade mecum. “It is a very valuable work of ready reference for an officer, whether he bp a village policeman or a chief constable. The weekly Illustrated Ci r cul<ar is the rogues’ picture gallery. The movement of every knouvn rogue temporarily out of /prison *and ou ticket-ofleave is recorded in the Circular, and many crimes" are frustrated by the aid of information contained therein. “The Yard’s earliest effort at a newspaper was called Hue,and Cry; today it is known as the Police Gazette. Herein the ‘big’ crook comes under editorial attention. It is a bi-weekly publication and reaches every police station in England and Wales. It is the ‘Who’s Who’ of crime and criminals, and is copiously illustrated with photographs and finger-prints of ticket-of-leave men who ,ha v e failed to report, or dangerous aliens who have disappeared. “The Yard's daily effort is entitled Orders. This is also circulated to every police station and the contents read out each day at parade before men go out on their beats. Other news-sheets issued from time to time are the Stolen Oar and Bicycle List, the Pawnbrokers List and the Black List. “The police evening, newspaper of several editions daily is Informations It is printed on fast rotary presses, as up-to-date as oan be found in any newspaper office. It is distributed just like newspapers, in fact, by vans and motor cycles. Usually it runs to eight pages per edition ,and at a busy period will (contain -upward of 500 separate items of police news and information. “Up and down the country are 181 separate police forces employing over 60,000 men, varying from forces of 25 upward. The total expenditure per annum is over £29,000,000, and the income over ten and a quarter million pounds. Every force in the country -car. draw on ‘C.R-O-’ for information. The Criminal Record Office at the Yard costs £15,000 a year to keep up- “ The finger-print bureau identifies each year about 300,000 criminals by their ‘d'abs,’ and guarantees to supply any police station with information within 21 hours. It is a 6?,000, 0000, Cue to 1 chance of two persons ha v ing identical finger-prints. It has over half a milion records, all tabulated and filed, and over two hundred thousand photographs of criminals. It is always up-to-date, and ev e n dead men are eliminated ns the information comes to hand. The modus o-perandi index is ‘aptly described by its title. This is but but a slight insight info seme of the greatest assets of the police”