N.Z. POLICE METHODS DEEMED UP-TO-DATE; REPLY TO CRITICISM
PARLIAMENT BLDGS., Last Night (PA).—The Minister in Charge of Police, Mr. Fortune, said tonight, in reply to criticisms of New Zealand police methods made by Professor W. R. McGregor, Auckland, that the criticism covered no new ground. New Zealand police methods' in scientific investigation of crime had earned ’favourable comment from all parts of‘the world, said Mr. Fortune, and he considered that all the present requirements of efficient crime detection were* met by the existing arrangements which used the services of local pathologists, the staff of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research and the Police Department s arms and ball.stics expert. “We are ready, and always will be ready, to seek the assistance of scientific men in the investigation of all crime,” said Mr. Fortune. “Science In this field has been closely studied during visits abroad of Mr. F. J. T. Grigg. Director of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, and he and his officers are always prepared to assist us in investigations.” Various police officers had also gone overseas to study the latest crime detection methods and they had gained knowledge of value to the Dominion. There was nothing clumsy, difficult or dangerous in the New Zealand system. Police practice had been, and always would be, to ascertain the real facts and not to act upon suspicion before evidence, as Professor McGregor had suggested. The police force appreciated as much Professor McGregor that to act upon suspicion before evidence would be contrary to the spirit of science and justice. There was nothing haphazard in the methods and all the evidence was subject to careful scrutiny. In presentation in court a witness could not be classed as an expert without evidence to support such a claim. Officers of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research assisted the police in many aspects of scientific crime detection. Cases of murder, rape and other sexual crimes, identification of firearms and firearm injuries, housebreaking, safe-breaking, arson, hit and run and other motor accidents, were all investigated scientifically, while the fingerprint branch was adequately staffed.
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Wanganui Chronicle, 19 July 1950, Page 4
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350N.Z. POLICE METHODS DEEMED UP-TO-DATE; REPLY TO CRITICISM Wanganui Chronicle, 19 July 1950, Page 4
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