GANG MENACE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 160, 29 February 1932, Page 7

GANG MENACE

BRITISH POLICE TAKE STEPS TO COPE WITH BANDITS. ♦ DANGEROUS CRIMINAL TYPE. LONDON, Monday. Drastic measures to cope with criminals of "the dangerous modern type" raferred to by Mr. Dupareq, K.C., in his report on the Dartmoor prison riot, are suggested by Scotland Yard's latest move. The first step in arming the motor police to.deal with the growing menace of armed bandits has been taken with their equipment with revolvers in cars patrolling the London-Brighton road, where a gang of dangerous criminals recently has heen operating. The authorities are considering similarly equipping provincial flying squads. Bandits are becoming increasingly numerous and daring. The Secretary of State (Sir Herbert Samuel) revealed in the House of Commons that 131 handit crimes occurred in Greater London during the last three months. One of the latest and most daring outrages occurred when bandits dashed treacle and plaster in the face of a Hatton Garden jeweller walking near Oxford Street in the daytime, and seized his bag of jewels, valued at £12,000, then escaping by motor. Prison Plots. An ex-Scotland Yard officer points out that criminals formerly working alone now are compelled to combine in order to make a quick get-away by motor. He expresses the opinion that gangs are often formed in prison. The Prison Commissioners are specially studying whether an alteration is needed in the methods of detention and punishment of bandits and gangsters. Following the references by Mr. Duparcq to the unsuitability of Dartmoor for dangerous modern criminals, the ex-Home Secretary (Mr. Shortt) urges that motor bandits, gangsters, and gunmen should be punishable by an inderterminable sentence, debarred from contact with other prisoners, and guarded by armed warders.