POLICE METHODS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21769, 7 April 1934, Page 8

POLICE METHODS

/ o SYSTEM IN DOMINION DEFEATING VIOLENT CRIME BETTER EQUIPMENT NEEDED The belief that consideration must eventually be given to the provision of effective mobile squads in the principal cities of New Zealand to cope with the methods of the modern crimiital is held in police circles. Attention to what are in many respects inadequate ✓ facilities for the police was drawn by a correspondent 1 n a letter to the Hf.rald, when the public point of view regarding poor equipment was made clear. "New Zealand is out of date in these matters, and the Government must eventually realise that modern methods are safeguard against crime," said a man who is closely identified with police work. "The attitude in the past has . been that the amount of crime has not warranted elaborate precautions, but one never knows when and how the criminal is going to strike against society. It is only reasonable ' that centres of the size of Auckland and "Wellington should have the means at hand 'to. meet with any emergency, but the Government is guided in these matters by a sense of economy. It is common knowledge that the cost of the Police Force to the community is remarkably small compared with the position abroad. New Zealand cannot boast of its facilities for the public protors, and there does not seem to be any justification for the passive hope that violent crime, which has been prevalent in reoeiit years, will diminish!" It was pointed out that the high (officials of the Police Department had openly advocated wider expenditure to improve the conditions under which both the detective and uniform branches of the force work. Nothing had been done to provide the forces in the cities with fleets of motor-cars which could be regarded as true patrol or pursuit squads, although the experience of the past few years was that many youths had been tempted to convert cars to their own use and to commit a series of thefts throughout the country. Car-stealing by Youths The matter of car-stealing was of the gravest importance. Motoring authorities had rightly shown concern at the increase in the class of offence, the very prevalence of which indicated that the present methods to counteract the crimer did not act sufficiently as a deterrent. A disquieting aspect was the youth of the offenders, in many cases extreme youth. In the cities, such cases were dealt with by detectives who possessed a wide knowledge of the/r work, and, under the circumstances, the results they achieved were highly satisfactory. An offender who embarked upon crimes of the kind was generally detected in the end, but there wis good reason to expect that a highly-developed system of patrols would stop the offences in their incipient stage. Another informant said New Zea- ' land's greatest consolation in the present state of crime was the stringent law regarding the possession of arms. To many members of the community the regulations might appear harsh, but undoubtedly prevented criminals from gaining possession of weapons through easy channels. Were the vigilance in this regard ever to be relaxed it could be confidently predicted that crimes of robbery under arms, with the use of cars to escape, would quickly increase. Gfases of the type did occur, however, and the police, lacking facilities which would be readily available in most other countries, were naturally confronted with a hard task in tracing the offenders. Value of Science Apart from organising efficient patrols, there is apparent in police methods in the Dominion a definite and welcome tendency to adopt science as an aid. There have been several striking instances where science has come to the assistance of justice. The progress in this respect contrasts with the hesitancy to y establish a motor corps to combat criminals operating with motorcars. <ln this regard it has to bp remembered that it was only a few years ago that it was felt necessary to bring from Australia a fingerprint expert to satisfy a jury of the efficacy of the system of detection. Those days have passed and, in addition to an excellent fingerprint and photography department at the police headquarters in Wellington, Auckland has a useful office serving the same purposes. It was not many months ago that fingerprinting established the identity of a young man accused of converting a motor-car to his own use. Microphotography is also being used with success by the police, and enlarged photographs were the means of indicating the similarity between specimens of handwriting in a recent for/gery case. Doctors and analysts play a considerable part in the activities of the jaw, and the extent to which their services are being used at present is without parallel in previous criminal history in New Zealand.