H.—l6.

6

Police Prosecutions. The following is a return of the number of convictions for which fines were imposed and the total amount of such fines in respect of prosecutions instituted by the police during the year ended 31st March, 1936 : —

Criminal Registration Branch. At Headquarters the finger-impressions of 2,646 persons were received, classified, searched, indexed, and filed during the year ; 207 persons were identified as previous offenders who, had it not been for the finger-print system, would have passed as first offenders ; 1,967 photographs were taken by the photographers attached to the Branch ; the photographs of 2,123 prisoners (4,112 photographs) were dealt with, 496 photographs were reproduced in the Police Gazette, 16 wanted persons located, and one deceased person was identified by his finger-prints. In 51 cases of breaking and entering, &c., finger-prints left by the offenders when committing the crimes were identified as belonging to 26 persons, who were prosecuted. In 3of these cases enlarged photographs were prepared and the necessary evidence tendered, both in the lower and upper Courts. In these cases the offenders were found guilty by the juries and sentenced for their crimes. The 23 other offenders pleaded guilty at the lower Court. It is interesting to note that the finger-print system has to date been responsible for the identification of no less than 6,516 persons.

The following table shows the increase in the finger-print collection since the introduction of the finger-print system of identification in March, 1903.

On 31st March, 1936, the finger-print collection in Auckland totalled 4,84:8 sets, being made lip as follow : Males, 4,566 ; females, 258 ; and foreign, 24 sets. During the year 790 sets of finger-prints were received from the Mount Eden Prison or taken at the Criminal Registration Branch, and were duly classified, searched, and filed. The photographs of 160 prisoners were taken and 857 prints were taken from the negatives ; also a large number of photographs of scenes of crimes and motor accidents, &c., were taken. The total number of photographs produced by the Branch during the year was 1,761. Two volumes (600 photos) of prisoners' photographs were received, card-indexed, and the cards filed in order of finger-print classification. The remanded-prisoner forms, together with the results of the cases inserted, for 310 prisoners were dealt with and returned to the Criminal Registration Branch, Wellington. In 10 cases offenders who would not otherwise have been known as having been previously convicted were traced by their finger-prints, some of them having been " wanted " under other names.

Fines payable to of T £ tal Amount of Convictions. b ines imposed. £ s. d. Consolidated Fund .. .. .. .. .. .. 10,151 19,709 12 3 Main Highways Revenue Account (section 24, Motor-vehicles Act, 1924) 4,485 7,415 14 1 Local authorities (by-law offences) .. . . .. . . 352 286 2 6 Total .. .. .. 14,988 27,411 8 10

Number of Increase on Number of Increase on P ris °ners Year. Prints in Previous p . Year. Prints in Previous p ace . as «—«- Y -- SSSZ Y ~- &SZ 1904 .. 3,500 3,500 117 1921 .. 26,650 2,964 232 1905 .. 4,200 700 72 1922 .. 28,408 1,758 255 1906 .. 5,000 800 88 1923 .. 30,284 1,876 292 1907 .. 6,151 1,151 104 1924 .. 31,929 1,645 289 1908 .. 7,622 1,471 123 1925 .. 33,802 1,873 267 1909 .. 8,718 1,096 138 1926 .. 35,844 2,042 292 1910 .. 9,919 1,201 140 1927 .. 37,808 1,964 255 1911 .. 10,905 986 148 1928 .. 39,409 1,601 276 1912 .. 12,097 1,192 178 1929 .. 40,852 1,443 208 •1913 .. 13,552 1,455 183 1930 .. 42,371 1,519 239 1914 .. 15,302 1,750 230 1931 .. 43,973 1,602 257 1915 .. 16,682 1,380 270 1932 .. 45,692 1,719 215 1916 .. 18,134 1,452 218 1933 .. 47,306 1,614 213 1917 .. 19,508 1,374 166 1934 .. 48,545 1,239 183 1918 .. 20,982 1,474 132 1935 .. 49,796 1,251 200 1919 .. 22,332 1,350 153 1936 , .. 51,053 1,257 207 1920 .. 23,686 1,354 176