CRIMINALS AND DETECTIVES

Lyttelton Times, Volume CV, Issue 12538, 27 June 1901, Page 3

CRIMINALS AND DETECTIVES

There is a good deal of misunderstanding concerning the relations between criminals and detectives. It is popularly .supposed that the two classes are as mutually opposed to each other as oil and water, and that professional wrongdoers would do wellnigh anything to injure those whose duty it is to bring them to justice on occasion. This is not a fact (says a writer in " Cassell's Saturday Journal" for April, under the title of "Do Criminals Hate Detecttives?"). The truth is that friendliness is often manifested en both sides. On the one hand, the criminal bears no against a detective' who has' "had" him, and, on the other, the servant of the law makes as much allowance as possible for the necessities of that individual's calling. A concrete instance of thin attitude happened not long since. Shortly after a provincial detective had been raised to the rank of superintendent he visited London on business. While strolling down the Strand he ran against a man who, through his instrumentality, had been sent into penal servitude. The open recognition came from the convicted felon. "Hullo!" said he. "Congratulations. I heard you had been promoted." He then invited his captor into a public-house, on entering which the detective found there some half-dozen men whom he knew to be professional criminals. For a moment the officer felt decidedly ill at ease; but, as the old thieves came up to him in a perfectly "friendly manner, he soon-regained his-habitual composure, and t pent a pleasant half -hour in their company. Not a word was said about;'" business," and in the end two of the party went with the detective to the railway station to see him off. Another member of the police force hot long since received several letters from old criminals congratulating him on his' promotion to inspector. He was well-known to the predatory fraternity, many of whom have had pecuniary assistance from him. Until a short time back he was acoessible to any of them, and very rarely'did he turn a deaf ear to an appeal for charity. In many cases detectives and criminals come to arrangements which are faithfully carried out. On one occasion a notorious burglar was arrested for breaking into a shop and carrying off many pairs of boots and shoes. Much to the surprise of his captor—who had "had" him several times'-previously—-he at once practically admitted his guilt. He then begged to be let off till next day, as some convivial gathering was to take place that evening, promising' that if he was allowed to go then he would be aib a given spot on the following afternoon. Satisfied that be would keep hia word, the detective gave him another day's liberty. And be had no cause to regret having done so, for the man kept iho appointment.