Norwich bulletin., 1922-08-08
he BCOr e :.
 Ennklir
Putnam.
MAY ADOPT AERoPLANEs
 FOR STATE POLICE WORK


 Adoption of the aecoplane to police work may become a fact in Connecticut following a conference between Motor Vehicle Commissioner Robbins B. Stoeckel, secretary of the state police commission, and Hiram Percy Maxim. chairman of the Hartford aviation com mission. A conference was held during the past week at which aeroplane police and the more stringent enforcement of the sections of the Connecticut general statutes pertaining to aircraft were dis cussed, and another conference on the same matters is to be held soon.
 Mir Maxim has said that he felt that aeroplanes would be of little use in pur- suing criminals in the cities owing to the ease. with. which hunted men can disap- pear in buildings there, but they would have an obvious value in the country districts, especially in pursuing criminals in automobiles, The highest powered car stands little chance of running away from an aeroplane, especially since the aecoplane is not limited to the windings of the road. Police aeroplanes in other sections have been equipped with ma chine guns, and it is believed that scout plane of the type used on the western front during the war would be of i'm mense service in preventing the escape of many crinin;Ss who now make their get away by the use of fast cars.
 With the increase in the number and use of aeroplanes for commercial pur- poses theFe has also come legislation gov erning their use, one of the provisions on l the general statutes of the state requir- 1 ing each plane operated here to secure a | license from the secretary of state and to i have displayed on the machine in letters not less than three feet high the number | of the license of the plane. Of course l the ordinary agencies of enforcing the | law are helrcess against an aviator who violates this law provided he has a few seconds start and can then fly to another state. With fast police aeroplanes, how 1 ever the aviator would have no better l chance of escaping than an autoist with ! out license plates has of eluding pursuit ! in dash across the state.
 The adoption of radio as a means of communication between aeropianes and ground stations would also increase the | efficiency of the air patrol. as by that means an aviator would summon assist ance from flying fields scattered through | the state. Hartford would probably be selected as the headquarters of the fyine fleet if it Is adopted as part of the state police force on account of the ex. ceptional facilities offered there by the | municipal field There Is also a vel equipped landing field which is regularly used on the estate of the late Commo- dore E. c. Benedict at Greenwich, anc | there is a station for seapfanes at thu submarine base at New London. Scatter ed all over the state are places whicf have been used as landing fields for air craft and could be made into wei equipped fields with little outlay o money.
 Aeroplane police are not new in Con necticut as they were used here last fal in connection with the Hartford aviation meet, when government planes police the course of the Fcrtford-S Springfield
 race, being used in this case to mak sure that none of the hiers flew below tn prescribed height. They are also in ac tive use in New York city. where severs planes. armed with machine guns, are ol
 duty. charged with the capture of al
 1iers who endanger life by performin stunts or flying dangerously low owe
 crowds.