CAMERA AND CRIME.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18403, 9 June 1925, Page 5

CAMERA AND CRIME.

■ « MR W. VAN DER VELDEN IN WELLINGTON. (special to "the eress.") WELLINGTON, June 8. An interesting* visitor to Wellington at present is Mn W. Van Der Velden, son of the famous Dutch painter, who lived and painted in New Zealand for some time. Mr "Van .der Velden is one of the demonstrators of the famous Kodyk Proprietary, and will give demonstrations here and in other cities to professional photographers. - He talked most interestingly to the members of the Wellington Amateur Photographic Society' and will be very busy during the next two days with the pro« fessionals. , . Speaking of the uses of photography in detecting crime, Mr Van Der Velden said that first of all it was used largely in the development of the finger print system, r.nd the study of this particular branch in police work had advanced to a stage where even a small fragment of a finger print might prove conclusive evidence in the identification or otherwise of a prisoner. The fragment might on'ly represent two or three ridges in the skin, but by greatly magnifying the shape and spacing between the pores on the ridges the protographer could provide evidence of guilt almost-as surely as if the whole finger print were available for study. This work was technically described as poiioscopy and represented the latest advance made by a Belgian criminologist. It had. been applied in the New Zealand Police Force with considerable success in many instances. Another branch of police work in which photography was of much use . was the detection of forgeries in bank-/ notes and signatures. Photographic enlargements had made detection possible when microscopic examinations had failed, especially where the signatures were concerned. In regard to banknotes the slightest change in the colour of the ink or the texture of the paper were detected by the same process by intentional exaggeration of con*trast, ■ such as was a,pj>lied in the photography of furniture. It was needless to enlarge upon the, irirportance of the camera for identification purposes Photographs of international criminals were in the possession of practically every large police force in the world. This was being done by means of an exchange. All the principal photographers here are closing their premises to-morrow and on Wednesday to permit of them- i selves an>l their assistants attending ] Mr Van Der Velden's demonstrations in the Concert Chamber of the. Town Hall. v