SCIENTIFIC SLEUTHS

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 104, 26 January 1935, Page 18

SCIENTIFIC SLEUTHS

Laboratory Tests for Criminals

What is claimed to be the most up-to-date and completely equipped crime detection unit in Great Britain is described by a Nottingham correspondent of the “Sunday Chronicle.” He writes: Here, at Nottingham, the local C.I.D. has put up in the last four years a laboratory which incorporates almost every modern scientific development for tracking down the criminal In a dozen directions it makes Scotland Yard's equipment appear antiquated. It can bear comparison with that of any of the famous Continental organ isations whose methods, in some cases, have been adopted or improved upon. Yet four years ago the crime detection equipment at Nottingham consisted of one microscope, so Inspector I’entland, who is in charge of the laboratory, says. Now three extensive laboratories are full with scientific appliances. Ultra-violet and infra-red apparatus have been installed for classifying and identifying such things as bloodstains, and examining ink stains, handwriting, fabrics, and dyes. One instrument used for identification purposes will cut across sections of the human hair. Another liquifies dried bloodstains, at the same time separating the blood corpuscles from the serum. Every scientific device in these laboratories has a definite practical value proved by experience. “Wo do not claim that science alone captures criminals,” Inspector I’entland said. “It is the combination of science and the old detective skill and knowledge of criminals which produces the results.” To enlarge his experience of scientific crime detection, Captain Popkess, the chief constable, recently made a tour of all the important police organisations in Europe. He visited crime laboratories at Lyons, Vienna, Prague, ' Dresden, and Berlin. Now he is reproducing the pick of Continental methods to add to his already extensive The laboratory staff incluJ.es a biologist, microscopist, physicist, chemist, and a radio expert. Captain Popkess also has at his disposal professors in all sections of physics, chemistry, and pharmacy at the University of Nottingham. Scientific evidence is being given almost daily in courts in the Nottingham area.

Inspector Pentland emphasised that it was not merely the more spectacular type of crime, such as murder, which was being detected by the new

methods. They are being applied to all types of evil-doing. Here are a few recent cases where convictions have been made possible through the crime laboratories. Special easts of jemmy marks which corresponded with the jemmy found on an accused man led to a conviction for housebreaking. Identity of an anonymous letterwriter was disclosed by a mircophotograph which showed plainly where additional strokes had been made. A counterfeit coiner was betrayed by an instrument called the spectrograph, which revealed that particles discovered in his hair were base metal. This spectrograph detects with uncanny precision any counterfeit coinage. Photographs are taken with it which show a certain series of lines for every element. Base metals are at once detected when the plate is compared with that of the true metal.

The Nottingham force has also developed its own improvements of fingerprint photography. For the first time, finger-prints can now be photographed directly. Instead of the usual method, involving three processes and taking four or five hours, there is now only one process which takes a few minutes. The walls of the laboratories are lined with shelves containing every chemical needed for scientific police experiments. A range of microscopes, one of which alone costs £159. are available for delicate examinations. Both bloodstains and hair of every wild and domestic animal have been classified and filed for reference. Every known variety of grass seed in the Nottingham area is listed. Every fibre known in brush-making and threads of different fabrics have been mounted and filed. Further, every serving police officer in the area has passed through a course of lectures on scientific crime detection.

The use of radio to fight crime has been developed on a wide scale. Every police vehicle is equipped with a twoway wireless system. Messages can be received and transmitted by all police patrols. By means of a radio set on his desk, the chief constable sits in his office and keeps in touch with all road patrols. A system of blocking all streets in a given area immediately on receipt of a police message helped to bring down the number of house and shop-break-ing cases from 318 in 1931 to 233 in 1933.