SEVENOAKS AND AFTER.

NZ Truth, Issue 181, 5 December 1908, Page 8

SEVENOAKS AND AFTER.

Is the English Detective System a Failure?

Methods Compared.

(By G«o.. Ri Sims.)

It is only to &t expected that the fail-, .ure of the police to unravel the mystery of the Sevenoaks tragedy would lead to a public discussion as to the merits of „our present system of criminal investigation. ■ Whenever an old and experienced detective o mcer , retires from the service iiue< popular newspapers have no difficulty m compiling an interesting and often a thrilling story of his successes m unravelling mysteriei and bringing notorious criminals to justice. Yet 'whenever a murder is committed that arouses widespread interest, and the police fail to make an early capture of the criminal there is-' sure to be an outcry concerning the English system of crime detection', and our detectives are compared unfavorably with their French brethren. THE FRENCH JUDICIAL SYSTEM 1 is very difierent. ftom ours, and French Justice pefmite the onicials of the detective branch to do ti;-iM- s s- which m this ; country would be fiercely: resented by all classes of "the k»rhmuhity. It -nas been my ,h . xl^ge* to be personacquainted with ? two famous chiefs »of the "Surete" m. Paris; and*' to be admitted on more than one occasion "behind «the scenes" of the French detective sys'tetn. The "reconstruction ■of the orime" m the presence of the accused, and the confrontation of the accused m a case of with the bodyatof ihe victim lying at the Mqrgue, qfllctionable as they appear to us, .are mild methods compared with some tcmployed i»y. the French police when they xire working, up evidence against pei.soes aciout whom they may fiaye suspicions more or ' less justified. Long befdrk a person who is , BI&LiEVfED BY THE POLICE 1 to be guilty is tried m open court by a. W-'Y.t . rrjenph. oQi-cials endeavor, by> every ni^ans at their command to forcer a confession of guilt from him. 'Tlake the ottrquoted case of Voirbo, the tailor, wihose- arrest for a taysterious muider' earned .for M. ' i>lace — then a. young dfetaact Commissaire — undying fame 'and brought about his rapid prumotion to the position of head of the Parisian ■.detecbiye- police. . . , Voicbo, after his arrest, was taken to the room m which he^ had' murdered and dismembered his victim.- He was . held down m a chair' by two police agents while M; Mace, after examrng the premises, tbok. a glass of wafer ' and poured it on the tiled floor. "There 'is an ihejine in -the floor,", .he said; ' '"It < slopes- m a certain direction, tf a body was cut up uy you here, . tue bipod followed the- incline. The water I pour, out mil run as the blood ran." The water trickled, m a tiny stream to a sj)ot beneath the 'oed. There it collected m. a pool. M. Mace at once had this portion of the floor taken up. Beneath iwas found the blood, now dried of course, 'that had soaked throue-h* the * - INTERSTICES OF. THE TILESI When Voirbo saw the complete success* of this 'experiment <-his face turned livid. "Enough! enough, I" lie cried. "I did 'it." • -„...'-:. Imagine such a scene arranged for a suspect by. the English police. ' . CONFRONTED -WITH THE CORPSE. At the Morgue three . or four young men— generally members of the gangs of Apaches who now infest Paris — wui, if suspected of being; impUeateil m a murder, be confronted iri a body' with the corpse. The fatal wounds are fully exposed, and m the presence of the police and a .Magistrate the suspects, their feelings, worked upon m every possible' way, arc encouraged to incriminate each other. When no capture is made. in connection with a murder the body of the victim is kept at the Morgue — the Ice Box, .the criminals call it— in order that m the event of ■aa arrest being made at any time within, teh years the accused .may BE CONFRONTED WITH IT. And yet with alf this elaborate -machinery, with domiciliary visits, the' system of espionage which furnishes the police with the record or "dossier" of individuals m all ranks of society, the employment of valets, concierges and domestic servants as police informers, the comptulspry registration of every guest m an hotel or lodging house, the Parisian Police fail again and again jn solving a murder mystery— '■•'.'. When inquiry was made for Elodie Menetret, of Vidlemomble, who- had been murdered and buried m the garden by Euphrasie Mercier;, the > Parisian police reported that she- Was • alive and well "/, : IN A LUNATIC AS YLUiM.Prevost, the gendarme, had committed two ; niurders, and was only discovered to be the author of : them after he had been arrested for his third criinte, the assassination arid dismemberment of Leuoble, .the jew-elldr. ' Vpilßo, the tailor, so . cleverly capturietf at last, was the author of two or three "mysterious 'mlurders which Had completely battled the Parisian police". The great contention. .of our home crjtics," after" the superiority of the preach detective system (had been proclaimed, is iliilt wte^ need men of education ana a--bilifcy who have not- passed through the ranks to be employed as detectiVes, and that, m any case, no matter m what part of the country a *• MURDfiR IS COMRUTTED, ;the crime should be investigated by an expert from London, and until the London man arrives the local men should do Nothing. . :. ■ ■ " This woulx£ be far more likely to assist the criminal m escaping, then the police m capturing him.*" Moreover, loca},;. knowledge is of the greatest valued m investigating a crime. No stranger, however skittled, could come to ;ibhe investigation rof a crime without a knowledge of tHe ineighborhood, or the habits, haunts; ; ?|ft4 acquaintances of trie' viefcifn. - : : - V-\ •"' 1"• - ,' fitp'w great is- the value of local knowledge is proVed^y. the fact that even m London the successful arrest -in scores of murder- cases httfti^been made through the knowledge of the ; — local people possessed by a local omce^.-« TJ&e local onfeer 'has, as a rule, an intimate knowledge* of the criminals m his district. svi ■'■ ■ ■ It; is from the; priminals of a locality that the "information received" generally cpines. :'jj\ the Deptford case, the Strattons ; m the "Stepney case, Wade and (Donovan ; and m the Muswell Hill case, Fowler ana MUsom ; and m sttores of other cases the information that ■;V. GAVE THE "CLUE" wh'ieh, follpwed up, led to the arrest of the ;> guilty was given by local pebple to „a local detective. The central expert idea is excellent m theory, but m practice it must brealc down at once. At the same time, it would be better, i£ m cases of difficulty pt mystery, the local chief, while not lor a', moment allowing delay m local investigation, would, instantly invite assistance from Scotland Yard. It would also ■be a wise thing if the chiefs of locjaj bodies were to select a certain nurpljrer of promising young ollicers and give them an opportunity of studying standard works on Medical Jurisprudence, m order that they might, when called to the 'SCENE OF THE CRIME, come, to the investigation with a know.ledge of the most important tilings to be loo&isd for and to be noted. If we cannot employ experts from the ■centre to investigate- crimes committed m j;varipus> parts of the kingdom, we can, at least, entourage a closer study of expert methods! by local men. ' I