SMART WORK BY DETECTIVES

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 774, 21 September 1929, Page 1

SMART WORK BY DETECTIVES

Man Wanted in New South Wales SENSATIONAL ARREST RECALLED Press Association WELLINGTON, Today. “IT" is one of the finest cases of detective work in the 1 Southern Hemisphere and should be an indication to citizens of the Dominion of what the New Zealand police can do,” said 'the Commissioner of Police, Mr. W. B. Mcllveney, in reference to the arrest in Australia on Thursday of a man who is accused of holding up a storekeeper in Roselle, stealing £2O and shooting a pursuing constable through the groin in the course of a gun duel.

At the time the criminal made good his escape, and the only clue left to the police was a case of spectacles embossed with the name of a New Zealand maker. This was submitted to a Sydney optician, who gave a scientific description of the grinding of the glasses, which was immediately cabled to the New Zealand police. On the receipt of the communication investigations were at once begun, and two hours later the name of the owner had been run to earth by Auckland detectives In the records of an optican’s establishment In that city. Within a few hours of the cabling of the request of the man’s name, his criminal history and the information that the New Zealand police had already a photograph of him were forwarded to headquarters in Sydney and resulted in his arrest. Some time ago this man was the subject of a sensational arrest in Auckland, when, with a woman accomplice, he was pursued by the police and only overtaken after a long and sxciting motor-car chase. Both were afterward convicted on charges of burglary. The of Police has received a cabm from the New South Wales Commissioner expressing appreciation at the co-operation and prompt action of the New Zealand police in dealing with the matter. AUCKLAND COMMENT OPTICIAN’S EXPLANATION OF CAPTURE DETECTIVE’S HIGH PRAISE “The smartest piece of work I have heard of through all my years with the force,” was the comment of Chief-Detective Hammond on the identification of the arrested man by his spectacles. Mr. Hammond was particularly impressed with a means of identification

which was most unusual, if not quite novel.

A prominent Auckland optometrist explained this morning how it was possible to identify the owner of the glasses by means of the cabled information. There was practically no chance of a mistake being his opinion, as no two pairs of spectacles were exactly alike, at least, no two pairs made by the same optometrist Within quite a long period. He then described the different ways in which glasses differed and the probable means of identification. “Glasses differ in the style of the frames, the power of the lenses and their form,” he said. “Then there Is a variation In the size of the lenses as measured in millimetres. “There are 180 different ways of making an astigmatic lense and above that again there are wide variations in power. Add to that the fact that the lenses made for the two eyes are also different in themselves, and you will see how difficult it would be for the optometrist to make a mistake In identifying his client from an expert’s description of the glasses,” added The Sun’s informant.