H.—l6.

Police Prosecutions. The following is a return of the number of convictions for which fines were imposed and the total amount of such fines in respect of prosecutions instituted by the police during the year ended 31st March, 1934 : —

Criminal Registration Branch. At Headquarters the finger-impressions of 2,656 persons were received, classified, searched, indexed, and filed during the year ; 183 persons were identified as previous oSenders who, had it not been for the finger-print° system, would have passed as first offenders ; 1,836 photographs were taken by the photographers attached to the Branch ; the photographs of 2,678 prisoners (5,350 photographs) were dealt with, and 656 photographs were reproduced in the Police Gazette. . In twenty-one cases of breaking and entering, fingerprints left by the offenders when committing the crimes were identified, and the offenders prosecuted. In five of these cases enlarged photographs were prepared and the necessary evidence tendered, resulting in three convictions in the Supreme Court, and two admissions of guilt in the lower Court. The sixteen other ofienders pleaded guilty at the lower Court. Some cases worthy of mention were the following A railway-station was broken into, the safe blown open and money, &c., stolen. A number of finger-prints were found on articles believed to have been handled by the offender, which were immediately forwarded to this Branch, together with the finger-impressions of the complete staff Most of the prints found were identified as belonging to members of the staff, but there remained unidentified two poor prints. An extensive search for these prints gave a negative result. All finger impressions subsequently received were scrutinized, and two months later identical impressions came to hand, which proved to be those of a young man whose prints had not previously been recorded. As a result, this young man pleaded guilty not only to the offence committed at the railway-station, but to ten other offences, including robbery under arms ; breaking, entering, and theft; and unlawful conversion of motor-cars. .... „ . , •, Three other ofienders were found guilty at Supreme Courts principally on finger-print evidence, there being practically no other evidence available. All were cases of breaking, entering, and theft, one included safe-blowing, and another consisted of a series of housebreaking offences which had extended over a period of nearly two years. . T It is interesting to note that the finger-print system in New Zealand has to date been responsible for the identification of no less than 6,109 persons. _ The following table shows the increase in the finger-print collection since the introduction oi tne finger-print system of identification in March, 1903 : — —iiin I n . i

6

——— : — 1 — 1 *; : 1 * 7T :"••• I; • I Number of I Total Amount of Fines payable to i Convictions. | Fines imposed. 1 - I Consolidated Fund .. •• •• •• Main Highways Revenue Fund (section 24, Motor-veliicles Act, 1924) 3 > 5,497 Local authorities (by-law offences) . . . • • • • • 263 168 Total 13,911 29,122

Number of Increase on traced as v dumber of Increase on tracedae Year. Prints in Previous p rev i ous Year - Prints in Previous p rev ious Collection. Year. Offenders. ! Collection - ! Year j Offenders. L 1 1904 3 500 3,500 117 1920 .. 23,686 1,354 176 1905 ;; 4 200 700 72 1921 .. 26,650 2,964 232 1906 .. 800 88 1922 .. 28,408 1,758 255 1907 .. 6,151 1,151 104 1923 .. 30,284 1,876 292 190« 7 622 1 471 123 1924 .. 31,929 1,645 289 1909 8 718 138 1925 .. 33,802 1,873 267 1910 9 919 1201 140 1926 .. 35,844 2,042 292 1911 ' 10 905 986 148 1927 .. 37,808 1,964 255 1912 12 097 1,192 178 1928 .. 39,409 1,601 276 1913 13; 552 1,455 183 1929 .. 40,852 1,443 208 1914 15 302 1,750 230 1930 .. 42,371 1,519 239 1915 " 16'682 1,380 270 1931 .. 43,973 1,602 257 1916 18 134 1,452 218 1932 .. 45,692 1,719 215 III! [19 508 1,374 166 1933 .. 47,306 1,614 213 1918 : 20,982 1,474 132 1934 .. 48,545 1,239 183 1919 .. | 22,332 1,350 153