The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-02-21
HOW THE POLICE
REMEMBER FACES
Part of Their Business, and They Get to
Do 1t IntuitVeIy.

How does a policeman remember
faces?" repeated Inspector John Shea,
when the question was asked last week
by a Chicago Tribune man. ''Oh, there
are no rules for remembering faces that
I know of. It's part of a policeman's
business to remember faces, and he final
Iy gets to doing it intuitively-that is,
without any special effort When he
sees a new crook shown up at central
his eye takes in all the peculiarities of
the man well as the color of his eyes
and hair and the general outline Of his
features. When he sees that man again
ne will know him. A police officer has
an exceptional opportunity for studying
crooks. and unless he is unusually dumb
he VIII in a few years time be able to
recognize any. one Of several hundred
crooks at sight. He first sees the GRIM
1nal, perhaps, when he IS brought into
the station. Then the next morning at
the trial, while an officer is waiting for
the case to be called in which he made
the arrest, he Will see a couple of dozen
crooks In the witness box and have
chance to study them carefully. He may.
see everyone of these men several times
after this under similar circumstances
and finally he knows these men so we'll
that he could spot them in black alley.
:. Have a "show-Up" Every Night.
, There IS what We call a 'show-up'
every night at central police station All
OF the suspects and pick-ups made dur
E1ng the day at all the police stations in
tfhe city are sent down to central station.
A detail Of detectives and plain-cIothes
tpohcemen from every station in the city
men under arrest are brought out and
stood in front of the policemen for identi-
ncatlon. When any of the prisoners is
identified his history is given to the other
policemen. and whether there-fs suffi-
clent evidence to hold the prisoner longer
under arrest or not, the policemen there
sv,4, III
now know him for a criminal, so that the
next time he is wanted he is quite liable
to be arrested the moment he shows his
head.
L don't believe that any police officer
has any system Of memorizing faces. 1t
would be OF no use to devote all of ones
ure. A criminal may dye his hair and
beard or shave off his beard, or, if he
was smooth shaver at first, grow a
beard when the police got on his trail.
He may receive a scar that will change
the general outline of his face or sick
ness may give him an entirely different
appearance. One must take everything
into account. Many men have some trick
of manner or speech that will betray them
when they are off their guard, or they
may have some chronic nervousness that
can never be entirely concealed An old
time criminal on the West side used to
Stutter in manner peculiar to himself.
Another man know of has Jerking of
the muscles on one side Of his face every
once in a while. Others twitch their
eyes or have peculiar way of struggling
their shoulders. Many criminals have
scars or are manned in some way or
other. Criminals often have a peculiar
way of walking or standing, and these
must be studied.
"once a Criminal, Always a Criminal"
THE fact is. however, after all. that
the reason that policemen are able to
recognize crooks wanted for some big
crime is because they knew these men
long before they had committed the crime.
Crooks, like everybody else, progress in
their work. They do not start in as train
robbers or bank burglars. y ears before
they startle the community by some gil
gantic \crime of this nature they have
been arrested for some minor offense,
and while in. jail undergoing trial have
become familiar to dozens of policemen.
The policemen have followed this man S
career because their business has taught
them that the day would come when he
would be badly wanted It's policeman s
theory that once criminal. always a
criminal and as he takes little stock
in the stories of criminals reforming he
never allows himself to forget one whom
he has come to regard as a citizen of the
under world"