CONVICTED BY DUST

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17441, 13 April 1931, Page 3

CONVICTED BY DUST

POCKETS BETRAY GUILT

GREASE SPOTS

GREAT AID TO t’OLRT

LONDON. March 1

]i is fortunate for the police that

criminals have pockets. So many guilty persons carefully brush their clothes and shoes in order to do away

with incriminating dust, hut they always forget lliai they base pockets into which their hands have introduced damuingi evidence.

"1 have been instrumental in convicting many criminals simply on the microscopic examination of the residue from their pockets,” said Dr. Edmond l.ociird, director nf the l.ahoraton of Police Investigation at- Lyons, ‘‘ll is not sufficient merely to turn the pocket inside out. ll must he removed from the garment, and the. stitches cut away with scissors. Then the seams should' he carefully scraped. The result will he 100 per cent, productive, and can establish guilt or innocence. '

CLOTHES PUT TX SAGES. “The examination of dust in criminology is now taking its place as one oi tho greatest aids the police have. “Here in Lyons, when a suspect is brought to us, the first thing we do is to place his (lollies, garment by garment, in paper sacks. Then we heat- on the sacks in the same manner that a carpet i.s beaten.

•‘The dust accumulates iu the bottom .if the sack, which is turned inside-out over a sheet of clean white paper. The dust is then ready for the microscope. “The garment is removed, and a second examination is made with tile help of the vacuum cleaner. This second dust is kept- entirely apart. “When grease spots or blood stains are on the clothing we remove the spots before heating, and make a direct examination of the stain with the microscope. It is often vital that the ({list on t hat, particular spot be kept apart from dust on other parts ol the clot king.

“Astounding facts may he learned from llie.se met hods.” Dr. Locat'd coui iuued. Aim ON SHOES. “I often divide a garment into ‘zones’ --.similar to a map -and then apply the vacuum cleaner to each zone separately, and keep the dust in numbered order according to zones. shoe is a mine of information. Sometimes I find four or five layers of mud on a suspect’s shoe. A layer of mud in,uv have a Inver of flour dust icxt to it, followed by another layer of mud of an entirely different nature to the first. ‘ ' ,

“This fad might prove that the suspect visited a- flour mill, having come by one road and. left by another—probably proving bis own statement a lubrication. “T generally perforate the dust to ascertain how many layers of mud there are. Then I place each Inver into a separate receptacle, noting the order in which it occurs on tlie shoe. “I can thus (race tlie movements of <\ suspect for some days before or after a. crime.

“Hair is one of my greatest allies,’ went on Dr. Lnrard. “Dust neenmu tales in tlie hair more Ilian anywhere

“In the examination of dust a simple magnet is of great assistance. ll removes from other dust all the metallic ('.articles and permits one to examine them apart.” Dr. Locard explained that many secrets iPiiv he gleaned even from a manicure. So man” criminals do not think of

taking the necessary precautions about(heir personal hygiene, and go to his laboratory teeming with evidence about which they know nothing. Tho examination of dust in criminology is extremely complex work, but it is becoming simpler day by day.