THE SHINGLED CRIMINAL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19965, 6 December 1926, Page 7

THE SHINGLED CRIMINAL

FASHIONS AND THE LAW. A new problem is presented to the police by the appearance of the woman motor bandit, writes “A Criminologist,” in the Daily Mail. During the last few days a number of robberies, have been reported in which it is believed a shinglehaired girl has been implicated, either as the driver of the car in which the thieves made their getaway or as a member of the gang actively engaged. On the face of it it does not appear more difficult to trace a woman than a man, but this is not the case. In the first place, the wonderful records at Scotland Yard generally give a pointer in any investigation the police are called upon to make; they are so complete in their particulars of known thieves and their methods that usually a criminal unconsciously leaves a clue to his identity. But these records do not include young women who are so modern to to shingle their hair. It is, of course, only a question of time before the detectives will catch up with the fashions and the culprit, but in the meantime the shingled motorist is having a run for her money. Scotland Yard’s flying squad will probably soon stamp out robbery by motor car in the metropolitan area, but the use of these vehicles in other parts of the country is naturally causing conconsiderable concern. Nowadays, when everyone motors, there is nothing unusual in cars being seen in out-of-the-way places, and it is obviously impossible for the police to challenge everyone they meet. Standardisation and mass production have robbed cars of their distinctive appearance, and as the registering number is the only thing “different” about the majority of cheap motors the task of identifying a particular vehicle is extremely difficult. And it is so easy to change the number-plate and drive away under thenoses of the police, hot though they be on the trail.