BURGLAR'S BEST DAYS.

Taihape Daily Times, 3 October 1919, Page 3

BURGLAR'S BEST DAYS.

VJHEN CRIMES ARE NEOST

FREQUENT.

“With late hours,” said a vlyondon hl:‘tgiSlTl‘2ll’O_, recently, “:1 subtle change seems to (:-o]l.‘.(’. over people’s characters. If I were to drop ten shillings in a frec,uented’ spot. in London, I should quite expect to recover _a number decreasing wil In the hour——~ei.ghf, perliaps, in the I’r.-1':--xwoon, six later in the day, and so on unt-il I might get back two at night time.” This statement was curiously borne out it few‘ weeks later by a thief who had stolen a. number of rings from a London je\veller’s winder: which he had .~.‘nlashed with 9. stone. Being in danger of e:lpture,he flung them down -among :1 crowd just leaving a music hall Of efghteen or twent_\,' rings flint were picked up, only two were re.~'l'ored by their finders. ~

Tim hours and days oflwimc fonii an ilitoresting study. AccOl‘ding to a: repox-t of The Commissi.onc~r of Police, the fzlvouritc time for btlx'<,»;]:u'_\;' is no iongc-I’—as it once war——from midnight to two am. .It is now between Two and six in the morning. Burglaries are pr=e‘t’cy evenly scattered throughout the week, but crimes of this kind are least common on Sunday, zmd most freqmmtly from Wednesday to Friday. ;‘..s is only natural, there are more burgiai-ies in winter than in summel‘.

The summer maximum is reached in August, for August is the holiday month, and :1‘ house that is temporarily xmoccupiod or looked after perhaps by an elderly, sleepy eal'ctakel', is naturally an easy prey to the nig}lt—pl'owlillg I’r:l’rornity. To turn to crimes of violence, murdors are mom-ly all c'ommit’rcd by men, and (he miljority of the victims are women. .Toalollsy, comes first as the murder motive, “drink second, quill'l'€’-IS third, revehgo fourth. Of the individ_uals sentenced to death for murder, only four in. seven are actually executed.

Now as to the mll_‘l‘dCl' days. As might redsomibly be expoctecl. Satul'day holds the biack record in this respect. Saturday is pay day, and usually a }:~alf—holiday_, ana it is the day on which the ‘vumounrt of drink consumed ex-'i coeds 3113' other dva-y by about fhirty per cent. Out of 208 murders committed in the United Kingdom ldui'illg .n‘i'ne years, forty-seven were Saiurday crimes, Next sfands Thursday, but why this should be so is diflie'ul't. to explain. '|.‘}i'o murder hours are between ten and midnight.