Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-05-25
The Motor Thief
By Frederic ]. Haskin

New York City, May 23.-Suppose
that you were traffic policeman sta
toned at Brooklyn bridge IN New
York City. A continual stream OF
automobiles is flashing past you, M
teen or twenty to the minute. How
many of those cars do you think you
could identify by make and model, IN
addition to performing the regular
duties OF regulating trafhc? HOW
much chance do you think you woulo
have for selecting. say, 1918 HUDSON
from the ranks, and Identifying IL as
La car stolen two weeks before.
That is the sort of problem that the
police of every big city are fnding pe'
| fore them and New York Is attacking
/; it in an organized manner. Her 200
patrolmen on trahic duty at the city
outlets are being given unique spe-
cial course In lightning automoohe
identification. Run twenty olHerent
cars past one of these trained men az
thirty miles an hour and he VII! call
you the name Of the factory ana the
year Of the model as surely as an ar
fist names colors. Give him even q
feeting glimpse Of some car vanishing
around a distant corner ana tho
chances are he can tell you its name
and whether it Is this years model or
last. Some idea Of what this means Is
given by the fact that there are over
hundred different makes Of automo-
biles driven in the New York streets
and practically every one OF tnese
makes has been issued insseveral dff-
ferent models.
The immense growth Of the auto
mobile business has brought other
problems with it besides the high cost
of gasoline. One of the chief OF these
is the new thief-the motor thief. His
favorite field of operations Is the big
city and for years he has been reap
ing a rich and easy harvest. New
Yorks new school for policemen Is
one big step toward putting an end to
his activity.
The motor thief finds the actual
stealing of a car the easiest, part OF
his business. 1t Is when he comes TO
sell 1t that he encounters real dlmcul.
ties. That is where the eagle eyed
traffic policeman gets his inning. For
the thief is practically forced to take
the stolen auto out of the city before
he can safely dispose of it. In the linn
it's of Manhattan, the metropolitan po-
lice are so thoroughly conversant with
the situation, with the addresses OF all
the fences and easy-moraled second
hand dealers who might buy stolen
car If they got it cheap enough, that
the machine is pretty certain to be
recovered if it is sold in town. Once 1t
has passed into the country at large,
however. the advantages are all with
the thief. An automobile is highly
movable piece of property when 1t Is
running right and he may easily take
1t a thousand miles before he tries
to sell it. An instance is on record
where a gang of thieves stole cars IN
New York and sold them in Ken.
lucky.
The logical point to catch the thief
is just as he leaves the city In the
stolen car. In order to do this 1t Is
necessary for the policeman on duty
to be able to recognize the stolen ma
chine from it's description at glance,
in addition to performing all his or
binary duties. which are no light ones.
The problem is further complicated by
the fact that there may be dozen
stolen cars unaccounted for at once
and the guardian OF the law has to be
on the lookout for every one Of them
It was found that the average po-