WAR AGAINST CRIME

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21583, 30 August 1933, Page 12

WAR AGAINST CRIME

UNITED STATES CAMPAIGN CREATION OF NEW FORCE SCOTLAND YARD AS A MODEL [from our own' correspondent] NEW YORK, Aur. 2 The success of "Scotland Yard,' in arresting, within three days of its entering its first case, the group thai; kidnapped a millionaire Illinois banker, and in securing a confession from tho leader of the gang, assures universal approval to tho plans of President Roosevelt's Attorney-General to establish a force, an exact replica of tho famous English force, to deal with kidnappers and racketeers. Tho coup of the Federal Agents was all the more effective in that the miscreants were nrrestcd after they had traversed two States in thoir flight from Illinois after tho> banker had been freed on payment of ransom.

Tho wave of kidnapping and racketeering that is sweeping the United States is laid to the return of beer, which threw out of lucrative jobs a vast number of bootleggers, hoodlums and gangsters, who hold concessions that were protected by paid gunmen. Thrown on to tho labour market in their thousands, these men turned to another profitable venture, kidnapping. The big kidnapping cases reach the newspapers, but there are hundreds of cases, in Chicago and other largo cities, in which "small" men are seized and held for ransom, ranging between 200 and 2000 dollars (from £4O to £4OO at par), which is paid within 24 hours, without publicity. Tho racketeer is less spectacular than the kidnapper, yet his kind extracts billions of dollars from business. There is a case on record in which a manufacturer of forbidden goods was taken to, his bank by racketeers and forced to draw and hand over 100,000 dollars (£20,000 at par). He laconically observed that he kr. w they were on his trail, and had the money ready for them. Ho knew to whom it was paid, yet he would not proceed against them, as he had a wife and children, whose lives would be forfeit. Besides, his business could well afi- rd the tribute. The Government has decided to run both groups to earth. A Federal Scotland Yard will not bother about extradition from one State to another. Besides, under the system proposed, tho detectives will not remain in one State long enough to became entangled with the gangs and bought over. Great cities have doubled their police forces in 10 years, yet the crime rate has more than doubled. _ < Another premium on crime is the system that puts police under control of the city or the county. Canada has proved that crime has been greatly reduced in cities and provinces that have handed over their policing to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. There is no case on record of a member of the famous Canadian force having accepted a bribe.

Under the scheme now being devised in Washington, "Scotland Yard" men will not know their next base of operation. They will have the benefit of an international identification system, as the Federal Bureau of Investigation at Washington already has copies of the finger-prints of every convicted criminal in the United States and other countries. They will have at their disposal every science known to criminal detection. %