Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-22

Uncle Sam has assumed the task of
educating police authorities Of the
United States in the art of uniform
crime reporting.
The educational program Is q pre-
liminary step in the Governments
the last Congress and undertaken by
j. Edgar Hoover, director of the United
States Bureau of Investigation.
To further the educational plan,
Director Hoover has just mailed to
municipal and State police offlcials
throughout the country an official
handbook bearing the title Uniform
Crime Reporting" which is to guide
cooperating authorities in supplying
crime statistics in the extensive Federal
diagnosis" Of the crime situation.
Taken From Association.
In reality, the 460-page volume is
a reprint of a monumental treatise pre-
pared some months ago by the Inter-
national Association of Chiefs OF Police.
The Government has plagiariEed the
book with the consent Of the original
publisher. Mr.. Hoover has added a
preface in which Corporation of peace
ofncials is earnestly requested in order
q system which will be not only n
reliable measure Of the quantum, dis
tribution and fiuctuation of crime, but
will supply information Of value in
directing public attention to specific
conditions which require study and
rectification."
The collection Of crime statistics.
initiated last January by the police
chiefs organization and taken over
this month by the Department of
Justice, is intended TO end the Govern
ment's absurd position of endeavoring
to diagnose and cure . social disease
with little knowledge Of its causes, its
nature and its prevalence"
A foreword explains that the hand
book Is not designed merely to add
to the growing list Of statistical year
books"
Feeling Of Uncertainty.
"The ever-increasing attention de-
voted by the daily and periodical press
to crime TOPICS" the introduction states,
has resulted in an ill-deflned yet wide
spread feeling of uncertainty in be-
lief that one is not secure in his life
and his goods, that the police have
failed in their task of protection and
that all forms of crime are steadily
mounting.
In the absence Of data on the sub
ject, irresponsible parties often have
manufactured so-called crime waves out
of whole cloth, to the discredit of po-
lice departments and the confusion of
the public concerning effective meas
ures for reducing the volume of crime
1t Is true that d. hing recent years there
appears to have been an unusual In
crease in certain types of offenses, such
as hold-up and auto theft, the magni-
tude of which could not be recognized
until the agencies OF criminal Justice
had been overwhelmed by the task Of
combating them.
Those in touch with the situation
have recognized what was going on.
Their practical experience has con-
WINGED them that in certain cases sub
stantial additions to the man power Of
police forces, or extensive adminiStra-
| tive reforms, were necessary. Often,
however. the lack OF authentic and
comparable records OF the extent and
incidence Of crime has made 1t i'm
possible to demonstrate what substan-
tial changes should be adopted for
Improvement in the administration Of
criminal justice.
Police Have Most In Game.
cit is toward this general goal that
the efforts of the Committee on Uni
| form Crime Records have been directed.
Its work has been initiated by police
auspices. In consequence there Is large
promise Of constructive achievement,
because Of all the public and private
| agencies concerned with the admins
| tration of justice the police alone are
In q position TO report extensively upon
the volume Of criminal acts and the
great mass Of offenders. Moreover, the
police have the greatest stake IN the
| game. The have the most TO lose from
/ continuance nf mir T1FasaFt fGN0fo nce
of actual conditions, and the most to
gain from its correction"
In launching its survey the Bureau
! of Investigation may be said to be
carrying out the will of Congress as
| first expressed in an all-but-forgotten
act of so years ago. This was the act
| of June ~, 1870, which made 1t the
duty OF the Attorney General to collect
statistics of crime under the laws OF the
several States as well as of the United
/ States. The project never was carried
out because of inability to obtain proper
cooperation from the States and cities.
Director Hoover points out that In
1 1871 the movement was taken up by
| police oficials at a national convention
| in st. Louis. This effort, too. died an
| early death. In 1927 the International
| Association OF Chiefs of Police revived
the plan with the appointment Of q
committee on. uniform crime records
This committee made an exhaustive
study OF crime statistics here and
| abroad and the task of formulating
standards which could be followed in
classifying crimes and reporting them
TO q central clearing house was begun
That clearing house now is the Ma
tional Division of Identification and
Information of the Bureau Of Invest.
cation.
Prejudice DIssipated.
A certain prejudice against sta
tistics" on crime in general that pre-.
viously existed in some police depart.
ments has been dissipated The new
manual attributes a former reluctance
to compile figures and publish report,
to the tendency to charge a crime
rate against the police rather thar
against the community and the tenpta.
ton to draw from such statistics broad
generalizations concerning the relativ.
efficiency OF various police forces"
The hook points out that pfevalenc,
Of disease Ia various communities 4