MOST CRIMINALS ARE STUPID

Shannon News, 6 June 1928, Page 1

MOST CRIMINALS ARE STUPID

A criminal seldom changes his methods, and for this reason detectives are trained to classify each type of offence. It would be a waste of time to look for a burglar among the ranks of the pickpockets, cardsharpers, confidence tricksters, or counterfeiters . Criminals begin and end their careers by working in the same groove, and time after time, when released from prison, they resort to the same old methods that lead back .to gaol. A “good man" is the description given by the police to a criminal who uses his brains to hoodwink the law. But it is only rarely that the detective has the luck to catch a “good man.” It is the stereotyped criminal who daily travels in the “Black Maria.”

Confidence tricksters are the kings of the criminal world. Men of knowledge and resource, they travel the world in their search for victims, and it us seldom they are caught.

It is rare for an arrest to follow 'a really big jewel robbery. The ‘ few really good men are satisfied with a small number of big hauls in a year. Nothing is left to chance. Months may be spent iii careful preparation for the actual raid, and once the jewels are obtained, a smart receiver does fcis work of safely disposing of the haul. Detectives can tell in a flash if the job is the work of a burglar or a “good man.” ' The suburban thief is always at work, and recently twenty small robberies were reported in a South London suburb. When the man was captured lie had to admit that he had used the same “jemmy” in every case. A peculiarity on the instrument left a similar mark on each window he had for ced.

Fur thieves are nearly all expert fur piers. They will select, say, three fur coats from among hundreds, but invariably they steal the best. There is a ready sale for stolen cloth, and after each warehouse robbery, the thieves are searched for among the classified cloth-robbprs. A groujj? work with synchronised watch-. ;rs, and at a given signal a car draws up at a factory gate, the padlock of vhich has been picked, and the goods ire hastily removed. A minute before .he passing policeman would have been leceived, because a watcher had reduced the old lock with a new one and then waited the signal to release his bnfederates. .

Letter box thieves are minnows, yhose clever work is completed by the .lever forger. These men also seek Messengers to visit banks and cash ffieques while they wait near by. The Mrgcr is only known to the head of ho gang, invariably a “good man,” vvho throws his dupes into the “firing Line,” while he, in safety, grabs most >f the profits. Pickpockets are also specialists who rever change. They are cunning and limbleffingered, but. not clever enough :o avoid prison bars. The Flying iquad daily watch their movements at jmnibus stops and tube railways, and weekly “suspected persons” go to gaol ! or short sentences.

The sneak thief, the handbag snatch•r, the bogus clergyman and doctor, the uttercr of false coin, blackmailer, false messenger, and scores of other types •are all tabulated in the Criminal Kecord Office. A glance at the records, and the detective can confine his search o a small number of suspects,