GUNMEN MENACE

Waipa Post, Volume 43, Issue 3389, 17 December 1931, Page 6

GUNMEN MENACE

WANTED—AN IRON HAND ON CRIME. Lord Trenchard, the new Commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police, is faced with some of the gravest problems in the annaljs of crime. Gunmen of a type known only in the United States have recently put in an appearance. Bank hold-ups are becoming more common. There is a wide-spread public demand for the abolition of gunmen before they become a really serious menace to the community. Thefts of motor-cars —the most valuable ally of the modern highwaymen—are rapidly increasing. Nearly 500 motor-carjs were stolen last year, a jump of fifty per cent over all previous figures. Burglary and housebreaking cases are rising, too, and one million pounds' worth of jewellery has been stolen in the last twelve months. Smash-and-grab raiders are using automatic traffic to their advantage, timing their escapades to the precise moment of the release of the traffic. " CHICAGO METHODS."

Prominent citizens of London are disturbed at the trend of events. Here, are two opinions expressed to a , Sunday Express representative : Sir Robert Wallace, the former chairman of the London Sessions: "Everything possible must be dona to put an end to the-Chicago methods of criminals in Britain. Unfortunately, this is one of the few countries in the. world where the police are'riot armed. A truncheon is of no use against a revolver. lam not going to suggest to the authorities that our policeman should be armed, but I will say that the time is not far distant when all policemen will have to be better armed for the protection of citizens, property, and themselves. i'A combination of circumstances is responsible for this great new wave of crime—unemployment, lack of parental control, a lower moral standard, the effect of gangster films, and the great freedom which boys are -.allowed, even before they leave school. Crime usually accompanies social unrest/' Sir Montague Sharpe, chairman of the Middlesex Session's: "I had to deal with seventy-eight cases at the last sessions. This is a great increase. The figure for the previous quarter was.only thirty-eight. "The activities of the gunmen and " smash-and-grab raiders must be seriously considered. Unemployment is the -root cause of the increase in crime. The majority of-criminals, who appear before me are young men. j_ have; never known an armed } crim* inal finder twenty-oneyears of -;age./ In the ;old days to steal;h6rses to use on their raids; now steal motor-cars, with'a better chance of escaping.". y^The :■■■ Sunday Express: understands tha;t.>::When it-was discovered that crime was on the increase Lord Byng, .the- late Commissioner, evolved several new schemes and plans, and that these arc now waiting, at New Scot-land-yard for the attention of Lord Trenchard. ■ One prbbfem at present baffling ' Scotlarid ' Yard. is . that of f orgi ed ibanknoteSj sp^cleverly f that : ;otdy''by"the i wrise'-of uliaravyiotet L *ays have they been I detected;' JfoiS'believed forgeries ; from r rGermany; Continental countries, but thd meth4 od of importation is unknown."' Offii cers of the Special Branch Of Scot-r land Yard and the port authorities are now endeavouring to trace how the notes are brought into Britain,