DETECTIVES’ METHODS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVI, Issue XIII, 28 March 1896, Page 353

DETECTIVES’ METHODS.

• What are your first methods in dealing with any case of mysterious crime ?’ What are the agencies at your command ?’ asked an interviewer of a detective officer. The officer thought a moment before he answered. Then he said : * Methods differ with every special case. But, in a general way, this might be an answer to your question. Suppose a robbery occurs. When the first alarm reaches us we send up whoever happens to be present. He inspects the locality, interviews the people concerned, collects all the available clues, and reports to us. Then a selection is made from the force, according to the magnitude and the difficulty of the case. Much depends upon getting the right man er men detailed upon the case. Some men are good at one line, some at another. Some have a special aptitude for tracking a safe burglar, some are up to the ways of the petty thief; some are especially clever in catching forgers. Upon the character of the case depends the character of the detective detailed to work it up.’ * Well,’ said the interviewer, ‘ take the case of an ordinary burglary. Suppose certain valuables have been taken, and that there are no apparent clues to the robbers. ’ • Even that,’ said the detective, 'is a rather vague and general description. Only a vague and general answer is possible. The detective must first try and determine whether it is an inside or an outside job. That is, he must bend his energies to finding out whether it was done by some one of the inmates—servants, members of the family, etc. —or with the assistance of some one of these, or whether it was done by a professional cracksman on his own responsibility. He must be a shrewd judge of character; he must be ready to catch up and

follow with every bit of gossip and personal detail. Meanwhile, he must make a tour of the pawnshops to find out whether the goods have been pledged. If they have he must secure, if possible, a description of the person who pawned them, and follow up such clues as the criminal may have dropped. The most meagre description will probably direct the suspicions of an expert detective on the right person, if he is a professional, and an arrest may lead to the securing of incriminating evidence. Or our book of photographs of criminals may furnish a basis of recognition by the pawnbroker or other interested party. The searching of all places believed to be kept by ‘ fences ’ or receivers of stolen goods is also a necessity. But these are only the most obvious and necessary precautions. By the time they have been taken something will probably have developed which will bestow a special individuality on the case. Individual features in a case develop individual methods for meeting them.’ ‘ Are there any methods in use which are unknown to the public ?’ • Certainly, and it is necessary for the public welfare that they should remain unknown. If they were known to the public they would be known to the criminals. A large part of a detective’s business must be carried on under the veil of secrecy.’