Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1922-02-19

Naturally the police of the big
cities of this country are more fully
familiar with the enormous number
of automobile thefts that are con-
stantly taking place in their neigh
borhoods than any one else and
while certain percentage of stolen
ears are of course recovered by
them, it is no eXaggeration to say
that the majority stay stolen. There
are good many reasons for this.
Larcenies of automobiles are
many times not discovered or re-
ported to the police until hours
afterwards. In many instances this
delay is too great a handicap and
the quarry is not recovered. An
automobile can travel a good many
miles in a couple of hours and often
before a theft is reported the thief
has scurried to cover and the auto
mobile is undergoing a process Of
camouflage which makes its identi-
fication nearly impossible should
it be found.
License plates, it has been discov-
cred, are no protection, because
thieves substitute their own set of
DldltS. 1llACtu ilIdlly lhlCNCSg "
throw inquisitiye bystanders off the
track, substitute false license plates
before driving off with the car, so
that they will not be apprehended
If an alarm is sent before they get
the car under cover.
There is one finger print expert
in the United States for whom every
crook, from the lowly dip to the
high-class bank burglar, entertairis
a most wholesome respect. He is
Joseph A. Faurot, best known as
Inspector Faurot, third deputy COM
missioner of the New York depart
ment of police.
Many crooks who manage TO
eyade old time methods of detection
have thrown up their hands and
admitted their identity when the
finger print expert began telling
them things about their past they
hoped had been forgotten.
And now the inspector, after long
study of the habits of automobile
thieves, in cooperation With Lie>S~
James j. Skehan, Of the New YORK
police training school, has evolved
an ingenious contrivance which, it
is declared, will, il generally adopt
ed, drive car thieves out Of bust
ness.
While Inspector Faurot is one of
the worlds most famous finger
print experts, Lieut.. Skehan is also
something more than a joint inven-
tor, being the author of several
works on police duty. Between
these two men they have produced
contrivance they named the Fau-
rot-Scope.
During the course of recent in
terview with Commissioner Faurot
regarding the apparently ingenious
scheme by which he has contrived
to make automobiles safe from
thieves, he said: II think this in
vention will convince a good many
crooks that it isn't always safe for
car thieves to judge by appearance.
I mean by that that the safety at
tachment is so small that it really
doesn't look very dangerous. 1t
is only few inches high and might
easily be mistaken for the familiar
mirror which enables q car driver
to see at a glance what Is behind
him. 1t does not look as II it could
be safely trusted to prevent desper-
ate and daring men from stealing
the car.
"Its interior mechanism, howev-
er, does a whole lot of things which,
from superficial inspection would
not seem possible. This invention
consists of q contriyance for shut
ting off the motor power and a set
of signals which indicate whether
or not the lawful owner is in
charge of the vehicle. Also imme-
diately upon being tempered with
the device automatically sets off an
audible alarm sirer.
1.-THE signals consist of base
disk, round disk and a diamond
shaped disk.
"The base disk is permanently at
tached to the mudguard or wind
shield of the automobile. Inside of
it is burglar-proof lock, a horn,
an excellent parking light, and q
device which controls the motor
power of the car. Attached to 1t is
a high-grade mirror scope.
"The round disk is the key to the
motor power. When it is in posi-
tion upon the top sof the base disk,
the car is in commission. When it
is not, the motor power is off.
Both the base and round disks
bear the owners monogram, init
ials, coat-of-arms, or the like, as
an additional protection to the car.
"The diamond disk is red in color.
When 1t is in position upon the top
of the base disk the car is out of
commission and cannot be moved
on it's own motor power.
amman of tho In,
commission by attaching the round