Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-08-18
London's Famous Police Blu.
reau Aims at Prevention
FIRST, Detection Aftelward.
Unlike America. :: ::

w HEN Inspector Dew. who had
wv pursued DR.. Crippen across
w the Atlantic, stepped out OF
an inconspicuous hatchway
of the vessel In which he had come,
thinking that he was going to get
ashore entirely unobserved and be able
to 60 about incognito as Mr. Dew
hurst" respectable English business
man. he was nearly overpowered to
find forty newspaper men and as many
photographers waiting to greet him.
That. to most American minds. ar
gued total lack Of Imagination. A
New York central Office man crossing
the ocean under similar circumstances
would have realized the sensational
character Of the flight BE would
have known that it would attract the
attention Of the two continents.
Though in midocean. be would have
pictured the American newspapers rev.
cling in that dramatic suspense, fol.
lowing the pursuit OF the slower steam
ship by the faster day after day. spec
ulating on the possibility that the sus-
poets might prove to be somebody
else, giving the various steps that
would have to be taken to arrest and
deport Crippen and garnishing all this
with photographs Of everybody con-
cerned.
There Lies the Difference.
An American detective would have
realized all this and have been actually
expecting the fourscore newspaper re-
porters and photographers. As nearly
as can be made out, the stolid Scot
land Yard man never even dreamed
Of such a thing.
More than one American will argue
from this that the Scotland Yard off,
GERS are a slow witted and clumsy 60
ing lot. Conan Doyle did good deal
to create this impression, for after
most of Sherlock Holmes brilliant
deductive triumphs the author brought
in a SNUG inspector from 1.-THE Yard"
and let him make himself odious to
the reader by taking all the credit
which properly belonged to the re-
markable Holmes.
This is literary fiction extraordi-
narily far from true. Scotland Yard
is the greatest crime detecting organ
ization in existence. Any person
versed in detective work will admit
as much. No country has more
effective bureau. The New York cen
trail Office is not its equal-certainly
not its superior. taken as whole. Its
men have many characteristics which
seem unt1tting-even absurd-from an
American viewpoint. but the things
they accomplish are great
Conan Doyle's stories really prove
this, for they were all based on Scot
land Yard exploits recounted to him
by Scotland Yard men. The wonder
full feats of deduction attributed to
Sherlock Holmes. though undoubtedly
made more remarkable by the author,
were founded on real cases.
Sir Edward Richard Henry is pres
ent commissioner of police in London
and receives $4,000 a year. He is the
man who suggested thumb prints as a
means Of identifying criminals. This
system has been adopted in most Of
the countries Of the civilized world.
The police headquarters of the met
ropolitan district Of London are at Scot
land Yard. and from this fact the
G. I. D.. or criminal investigation de-
partment, takes its name. Frank
Froest, whose name has appeared fire.
quently in the London cables on the
Crippen case. is the superintendent Of
Scotland Yard.
Conditions Differ From America.
In order to understand the work Of
these English police It must be remem-
bered that they have entirely different
kinds of criminals to contend with
there or rather they have the same
kinds in entirely different proportions
They have far fewer murders than
the police on this side. America, Of all
modern civilized countries, is the place
in which murder is practiced most
,ruthlessly and abundantly. There's a
reason, Of course. America has those
hordes Of foreigners pouring In at
Ellis island constantly, and those
hor1es include the refuse of European
nations, and this refuse furnishes a
large proportion Of the crimes which
go swell the homicide statistics.
They have few safe crackers and
bank robbers nowadays. America Is
the field for that sort of operations
because its population is dihuse. its
stores and banks are less safely guard
ed, its habits are more careless. and Its
criminals, nevertheless. are of the clev-
crest. England is a compact country,
well settled, well protected. a place
where all the means of prevention have
been developed to the highest degree.
In that word prevention is the key to
mnch of the work Of Scotland Yard.