Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-04
POLICE OF BERLIN
HELD GRAFT FREE
Director Explains Absence by
Discipline and Constant
Shifting.
Special Dispatch to The ctar.

Special Dispatch to The ctar.
BERLIN September 4.-The graft
and extortion rackets which OCCASION
ally come to light among the police
forces in large American cities are I'M
known IN Berlin. Such, at least, is the
statement made by DR.. Hans Schoiz
director of the criminal department OF
the Berlin police, which deals WIN
problems of vice and crime.
Freedom from police corruption IN
Berlin, Dr. Scholz AYERS. may De eH-
planned by the following reasons: Inc
military discipline which prevails; tne
constant shifting of officers who might
be confronted with temptation on ac-
count of the character of their assign
ments: the comparatively small scale
on which crime is committed, even
though the city has more than 4,OOO,OOo
Inhabitants; and the restricted hmanclal
resources of the Berlin underworld.
Petty thieves have no spare money
with which to effect corruption, Dr.
Scholz said, and that single roboer or
a gang of robbers should make pig
haul is a rare exception. There are. OF
course. bands of Berlin criminals, but
their main object is to assist, the men,
bers when they get into trouble, and
take care of families whose leaders are
in prison. These groups. the criminal
director maintained. do not present
danger in the way that American boot
leg and vice gangs do, and have not
money enough at their disposal to buy
protection, even if such were possible.
Three Slayers Escape.
Lawless gangs. very often made up Of
Juveniles, are generally out for small
scale theft: solo work is practiced by
specialists in jewelry and other valu-
ables, the routine houSebreakers. There
were only As cases of murder in Berlin
last year. DR.. Scholz noted: in 80 cases
the culpritS committed suicide after
ward, and of the remaining II, were
caught and convicted.
The criminal department keeps a
special squad on duty day and night for
Investigating murder on the spot. some
time ago, movie patrons were able to
witness a crime film in which the open
ing sequence revealed the investigation
of a street murder by this squad. A
surprise element was the presence OF
a trim young woman calmly tapping
away on a portable typewriter not 3
feet from the gruesome Exhibit A. DR..
Scholz revealed that such typists (usu-
ally more elderly than the lovely bios
som in the filmO go along to everv
the comment Of the chief investigator
and the physician on the circumstances
of the crime. Often. of course, this
work is done in the dead of the night
and amidst scenes of the most depreSS-
ing character 1t proves hard on the
nerves of the girls in the long run, DR..
Scholz admitted. ands therefore they
took turns in doing it. Murder SQUAD
.typistS are selected from the Steadiest
4Ia,y - I1n
headquarters clerical force.
Training Specialized.
In addition to the secretary, the
murder squad consists of two seasoned
inspectors, physician, one or two spe-
cialiSts IN photogre ply and f11gerprint-
ing and police dog. An automobile
especially fitted out for the purpose, Is
constantly held in readiness to take the
squad to the scene Of crime. whether it
be home in the fashionable part Of
the city, a tenement in the slums or a
lonely spot out in the woods around
Berlin. Many of these scenes have
been reproduced in miniature and form
part of the collection in the Berlin
Criminal Museum. designed to aid
authorities in the study of crime. The
training of men for the criminal section
of the police is conducted along highly
specialized and modern lines. Exhaust
tive data of every crime, solved or I'M
solved, are entered in the police
archives.
Chief Scholz is at the head of some
2,4o0 detectives forming the criminal
department of the Berlin force. Like
the uniformed ranks, they belong to
the Prussian State Police, which has
charge of public safety in most of the
larger cities, only the smaller munich
-palities doing their own policing. At
tached to the Berlin Criminal Depart
branches of crime. inasmuch as the
Berlin authorities are often called upon
-for assistance in solving dark deeds
committed in other cities or out in the
country.
Copyright. 1917