THE PROBLEM OF THE YOUNG AND DARING THIEF.

Hokitika Guardian, 18 February 1920, Page 4

THE PROBLEM OF THE YOUNG AND DARING THIEF.

(London Paper.)

Thieving on a big scale has become almost the monopoly of young men. The “old lag” has lost his cunning and his daring.

Ho is, as lie himself would say, a “wash out.” He may still claim preeminence iu a comparatively “soft expert job, such as boring open a safe; but he cannot trust himself to carry out the new-fangled ideas which demand a 20-h.p. motor-car and a 100-h.p. nerve and cheek. Moreover, the old lag would rather avoid partnerships. Only when assistance is required does he confide in a trusty “pal.” Modern thieves are young and reckless. They travel about in motor-car parties, break open warehouses, stes' thousands of pounds’ worth of furs, cloth and costumes, sell them imme. diately, and divide the proceeds. It is really amazing what these young men do. They commit the biggest robberies in the most frequented streets right under the noses, it would seem, of the police. Their impudence is colossal. In one recent serious warehouse robbery they used two motor-cars —one to take themselves away, and the other to take the stolen goods away. The wonder is that they did not leave a third car for the use of the police. These young men have emerged from Wie war and plunged into what is unfortunately their natural element—crime. At a time when they would have possibly come under the tutelage of older criminals they were called up for the Army. They have now come back to civilian life and their old surroundings.

The criminal tendency that was in them, or hereditary taint, or a spirit of wicked adventure has obtained the upper hand, and they have embarked with fresh and bold ideas on a career of crime. The battlefield, on which many of them doubtless performed epic deeds, inspired them with recklessness. After all, wrenching off the locks of a warehouse is tamer than a raid on a Hun dug-out. That is their way of rt>aSo!nin,g. The ipolce—.pooh !. For the moment these young thieves find they are supreme. Detectives do not yet know them, the police force is not up to establishment, and of course the many youug police recruits are strange to their work. Two years’ hard training is essential before a man becomes an efficient policeman.

Another important point is that in the old days many policemen, aspirants to detective rank, were accustomed at the end'of their day’s work to take off their uniform and go into the streets and hunt for thieves. I am told that this is rarely the case now, because the men feel that when they have done their 7\ hours’ duty their job is done for the day. Detertive. work is losing the fascination it once had.

It is safe to predict, however, that the reign of these young thieves will not be of long duration.