Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-02-14
Halted Great CrimeWave
After Conquering Political Foes
as O Effective Policies Present ondito

greater ambition than merely to
keep the precarious rule Of an all
tocrat. He wanted to found a solid
and enduring state. 1t is only natural,
then that his attention. once tho more
pressing matter of political insured
tons were eased. turned to the prevs
lence of crime in Paris. The way he
attacked it was in logical sequence OF
the development just outlined.
'Fouche had political spy system
, that covered all classes. 1t could he
| turned to criminal matters. They
| transformed that splendid organize
ton, as if by a simple turn, into (.
/ stool pigeon system. IT was the firsf
great mechanical stool pigeon system
and since then the stool pigeon organ
4 ization has been the central machine
! with every detective force. The de-
I tective developed from this. lie was
at first a conRent!al agent who deal
with the stool pigeons Later came
: the complex methods of the modern
detective
This new method Of crime detee.
4 ton was new TO the outlaw classes
/ They could not cone with II, and so
/ Napoleon suppressed the crime wave q"
! found this divertine, but I was
seeking the lesson. the message OF j.
all.
T.. How does this apply TO the crime
/ situation in New York in this year Of
/ 1862" ! asked.
NJ. Cassellari spoke with an iron
! ical Gaelic smile
] Wen, I suppose there are no such
/ things in America as stool pigeons
! You might evolve a few. Or"
/ "Or," l suggested. you would sua
/ gest putting suspects and witnesses
to the examination by torture"
| 1T might help assented the other
! philosophically
! But, seriously he continued, "w-
! have in France what I consider q
most excellent weapon In fighting
| against crime. and 7 should ascrtbe to
/ 1t the fact that our after-the-wBr wave
! of criminality has not become serious
| when a criminal Is convicted IN
! France he not only gets hts term In
. prison, but also the added punishment
that when he comes out he is forbid
den for i've Years 10 enter any Of the
( large cities The cities are the haunts
/ of criminals. Il is there that most Of
/ their crimes are committed. 1t is
there that they gather and hatch their
schemes for work together. They
/ nearly always work together The
! criminal Isolated In The country IS i'm
! peded from contact with lis old mates
| Alone, he is not half ST. dangerous as
I one OF a group lie j. al a grave dis
/ advantage in continuing to thrive by
| crime. A fTe-year ~oioUrn in the
| country is q thing 70 make most of
them so to work. and once a crook
( has established the habit Of making
his living by work he is on the road
to reformation.
There is this added advantage.
Many Of them. Of course, 20 back t.
! the cities in spite Of the prohibition.
/ There they are very likely to he spot
ted by the police Their offense emit
/ ties them to a new prison term. But
/ usually the detectives Will make q deal
with such 4 fellow whereby if he fur
nishes them with a bit of information
about his pals and then will clear out
7 into the country and stay there, they
will not arrest him. This Is the IN
/ pleasant side, but a useful side, of an
/ important measure.
/ In its major phase. l think the
/ forbiddine Of men 70 leave prison and
( go straight to the criminal haunts OF
I the cities IS one OF the best provisions
Of our criminal law"
I 1T sounds as though it might work
/ wei anywhere" I agreed.
Il have talked about il with many
! Of your police officials" said VI. Cas-
sellari. and thew agree that il would
/ be an efficient weapon in checking
! crime here. But, Of course. your sys-
! tenn of criminal law, particularly with
/ so much independence of the various
| States, makes it impossible here"