H.—l6.

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, 1937 : —

Criminal Registration Branch. At Headquarters the finger-impressions of 2,506 persons were received, classified, indexed, and filed daring the year ; 164 persons were identified as previous offenders who, had it not been for the finger-print system, would have passed as first offenders ; 1,806 photographs were taken by the photographers attached to the Branch ; the photographs of 3,097 prisoners (5,345 photographs) were dealt with ; 512 photographs were reproduced in the Police Gazette, and 17 wanted persons located. Finger-prints left by the offenders when committing the crimes were identified as belonging to 18 persons, who were prosecuted. It was necessary in only one of these cases to prepare enlarged photographs and tender finger-print evidence at Couit, which resulted in a conviction. The other 17 offenders pleaded guilty. Two cases worthy of mention are the following : —During the second week of January, 1936, two shops in Wellington were broken into and jewellery, &c., to the value of £181 was stolen. All efforts to locate the offender failed until the 24th December, 1936, over eleven months later, when a detective obtained the finger-prints of a suspect in connection with a petty theft. These finger-prints were found to be identical with those which had been found on the windows of the shops referred to. When he was told that his finger-prints were found at the shops he admitted these and several other robberies, and that he had taken the stolen goods to London and disposed of them there. A copy of this man's finger-prints were then sent to New Scotland Yard, London, for inquiry, and it was ascertained that he had several convictions recorded against him in England. In May, 1936, a New Plymouth jeweller's shop was broken into and jewellery valued at £326 stolen. Finger-prints were found on wooden louvres of a fanlight at the rear of the shop. Two weeks later a stowaway from Wellington was arrested at Sydney in possession of a large quantity of jewellery. When this man's finger-prints were received here they were found to be identical with those from the New Plymouth shop. This offender, after his return in custody to New Zealand, pleaded guilty to breaking and entering the New Plymouth shop and stealing the jewellery ; he was sentenced to two years' reformative detention. On account of the growth of the finger-print collection (now 52,461 recorded) it has become imperative to further subdivide the respective groups. This is a long and tedious task which can only be undertaken as time permits, but during the past twelve months sufficient time was available to accomplish approximately one-third of this work. The inauguration of the Battley single finger-print system is a step forward. This is a practical method of classifying and filing single finger-prints and fragmentary impressions; it is an addition to and an extension of the original system, the value of which it in no way impairs. This system has been used by the London Metropolitan Police for the past seven years, and it has proved to be of great value. During the year the finger-prints of 2,142 criminals (21,420 finger-prints) have been filed according to this system. It is interesting to note that in New Zealand the finger-print system has, to date, been responsible for the identification of 6,680 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.

5

,, , Number of Total Amount of Fines payable to Convictions. Pines imposed. £ s. d. Consolidated Fund .. .. .. .. •• 11,060 25,126 3 6 Main Highways Revenue Account "(lection 24, Motor-vehicles Act, 1924) 5,104 10,544 14 0 Local authorities (by-law offences) .. .. .. .. 332 223 17 0 Total 16,496 £35,894 14 6

Number of Increase on S T'® Number of Increase 011 Year. Prints in Previous Year. Prints in Previous Collection. Year. 0 P ™. Year. . _ —- , - . , 1904 .. 3,500 3,500 117 || 1921 .. ! 26,650 2,964 j 232 1905 .. *1,200 700 72 j 1922 .. j 28,408 1,758 j 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 j 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 .. 1 47,306 1,614 213 1917 .. 19,508 1,374 166 1934 .. j 48,545 1,239 183 1918 .. 20,982 1,474 132 1935 .. 1 49,796 1,251 200 1919 .. 22,332 1,350 153 1936 .. i 51,053 1,257 207 1920 23,686 1,354 176 . 1937 .. 52,461 1,408 164