WHY CRIMINALS GET CLEAR

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 9, Issue 591, 10 December 1920, Page 2 (Supplement)

WHY CRIMINALS GET CLEAR

By PAUL TRENCH in "Pearson's Weekly."

This striking article, writteo on inside knowledge, explains the difficulties of the police and the defects of

their system.

Day after day, week after week, I sit in one or other of the courts of justice in some part> of the country. Perhaps it is a famous murder trial, or maybe a prisoner being charged with felony. Then I take up my paper and read the bare account of the police evidence, and wonder what the public would think if they knew the inner story of how the criminal had been traced and brought to trial. Just now we have the eternal question being asked on all sides: "What are the police doing?" when some daring robbery takes place, and the thieves go free. I have asked many prominent detectives to say just how it happens that the police fail so often to effect captures, but can get no solution of the problem. Therefore, it struck me, that I might be enlightened on this important point if I asked one of the criminals. *

Outside the detective force, I will make bold to say that I have a greater knowledge of the criminal world than any other civilian. I know most of the "big" crooks, and have seen them tried and sentenced on many occasions.

I set out to round up one notorious crook, and found him after a search of that part of the underworld in which I am known. I took him to my rooms, and put the question to him bluntly: "How do the.boys manage to bring off the jobs and get clear, Jimmy?" CROOKS' SCOUTING SYSTEM.

"It's generalship, sir, just that, pure and simple," he replied. "When a crib is marked for cracking, we sort of walk round it. Every point in our favour is marked, and everything that may prove dangerous is noted iilso. "Ye know when the cops are about, but they don't suspect when we are on the job. We have the advantage of' seeing and marking their movements, but they neither see nor are able to tell when we are about.'

"When we are at work on a job we are protected from police interference by a code of signals prearranged with our pals. It may be that a boy, passing along the street whistling a popular air, tells us by the tune that all is well, or that danger is dear. Or it may be the hoot of a passing taxi 'that keeps us informed of the state of things outside. The policemen hear all this, but to them it has no meaning. "Thus assured of safety from the outside, we are free to guard against danger from the inside. The house or office has become familiar to us after long weekc of study. We know every door and window, and can tell the daily habits of inmate of the place we happen to be working in. The cops are in duty bound to cover their beats within a certain time, and we, knowing their habits from long observation, are able to time our coming and going to a nicety. "Then we have all arranged a long trip to some place far away from the scene of our exploit. We appear as harmless trippers at a well-known resort, or .as respectable guests in a piominent hotel. All the time we keep our eyes on the papers and read how the police are progressing. "But the greatest advantage we possess over the police is—we have a watch set on the crib we have crackr ed, and find who it is that has the case in hand. We are then able to watch his every move, but he has no idea as to whom we are, and often we have a false clue at the-cracked crib that sends the detectives away on a false scent.

WHERE CLEAN CHARACTERS COME FROM. v " -*.

"You see, sir, we old lags know all about the" methods of the police. Their mode of procedure, in every instance, is as well known to us as the inside of a prison. . r "It is possible, if we stayed in the towns in which* we are known to the police for what we are, that things would be made warm for us. The detectives" of every town and city are acquainted with their own particular circle of crooks, and the same may be said of the various divisions in the London area.

"But when we appear in a strange town, and take up an honest job, our characters are good in the eyes of the local force.

"Then, as you have seen for yourself when in court, we are able to produce highly-respectable witnesses to prove "that we were in his or her company if it so happens that we have been run in on suspicion. The 'respectable' folk are always members of our gang, but care is taken that they never get into trouble. , "And now that I am warm on my

subject, I'll put it to you, sir: Who are the men who are given the task of tracing crooks? Have they had any special training? Have they not been, first of all, put on whaH they call plain clothes duty, then if they make any 1 sort of show at all they are promoted to be detectives? "They get. to know their local crooks, capture a few and are promoted sergeants. A matter of years and they become detective-inspectors, and have the arranging of the cap£fire .of-; -criminals. have learnt to know the crooks whey they see them, but as to following up a clue, they have no more idea of what you call deduction than they have at taking the bit be-, tween their teeth and working a case up on their own initiative. ,"t'm a croak, I'll admit it, for I can't deny it to you. But if I was to be appointed the chief of the Yard to-morrow, I'd adopt new methods of dealing with crooks, who have more knowledge of the working of a getaway than all the regulation-bound cops will ever learn in a cetnury. THE IDEAL DETECTIVE.

j "The fact is that the police are tied hand and foot by rides and 'mode ol procedure.' They take a case, work it up, and spend weeks and months following false clues set for them by the very men they are out to capture."

"Well, Jimmy, I'm very thankful to you for what you have told me. But before you go, I want you to give me your idea of how the detective force of the country should', be arranged and trained. You have pointed out many faults, and your exEerience of the methods of the police as given you great knowledge of where the system fails. Now, have you a remedy?" "Yes, sir. Train your detectives from boyhood. Make them independent of the police. Keep their identity as much a secret as possible, and make them feel that they are professionally on a par with the doctor o\ the lawyer. "Pay them well. Let efficiency mark their work, or«have them retire to give place to more able men. Give them a sound training in science in its relation to crime, but, above all, allow them to show initiative, nnd encourage them to do so. "Let the detective who has passed a certain examination be in a position to order the police to perform such work as comes within their province of arrest, but let the real detective be as much a myth as his duties may allow. He must not be known to the general public for what he is.

"All thvs could arid ought to be accomplished, and until the detective is put on some such footing the men in my class will be able to spot him long before he can spot us, and m that lies all the difference."