Evening star., 1932-01-31

cases-e of larceny and forgery the records
which the Yard keeps are largely respon-
sible for the impressive figures shown in
its annual report: Number of simple
larceny cases known to the police
$500; taken into custody-5378!" The
records of the Yard are filed according to
the technique used in previous crimes.
Cutting bell wires" killing dog"
wears gloves" Works with woman"
"PretendS to be war veteran"-these are
some of the hundred different claSsifica-
tions down to that rarest of ALL Carries
gun" The Yard can often build up
hypothetical picture of the criminal from
the description given by the victim, and
by searching the thousands of folders, it
can almost perfectly identify the man
wanted In addition, the Yard has mil
lions of fingerprints on file.
Such is the Yards system, which has
the advantage of being no hidebound
system at all. But other factors come to
the help Of the Yard.
First is the fact that England is a
small island with comparatively few
exits. At each port there is always a
Scotland Yard man, watching incoming
and outgoing traffic Once the alarm is
out it is extremely difficult to escape from
England. And the Yard is not limited
to any bounds in carrying on it's inveSti-
cations While j. cannot investigate
cases arising in the provinces without
being asked, it can go anywhere it
wishes to carry on its Investigations.
The size of England helps the Yard in
to fac
mobile can traverse all of England in
eight hours.
At the same time Scotland Yard deals
with a population that is almost entire
ly native-born. The number of for
eignerS in London has decreased in re-
cent years, and the great Slums in
Whitechapel and the LimehouSe dis
trict, once chiefly inhabited by foreign
ers have been cleaned up. In all London
now with its 100000 people, there are
less than 100000 foreign born.
This leads to what is probably the big
geSt factor behind the success of Scot
land Yard-the attitude Of the average
Englishman toward law and order Many
an American, fresh from New York and
memories of armored express cars, has
been amused in passing the Bank Of Eng
land, to see a money transfer operation
going on. A rickety truck stands by the
curb. Inside it, in plain view and SEEM
ingly easy to grab are small cloth bags
of money, their contents clearly marked.
The back of the truck is open, and un-
armed men carry the bags into the bank.
The driver of the truck stands near by,
far more interested in exchanging racing
tips with a friend than in watching NOV
ing operations. Pedestrians move past
in an unbroken stream. A policeman
stands a hundred yards off-at his post,
directing traffic.
MAYHEM I asked man at Scotland Yard
w what was to prevent one of the
grab and drive off raids" that had led
to the introduction of armed cars in
America. his first answer was, as the
Irish might put it, silence. The idea had
never occurred to him. Then he said,
"If any one tried to grab, every man near
by would feel personally outraged and
give chase. The people are the allies of
the police"
This same attitude explains the tre-
mendous response given to any request
published by the Yard in the newspapers,
a custom which Scotland Yard follows
more and more. Scotland Yard wants
to find any one having informa-
tion please call ," and for week
thereafter the Yard is busy filing the in
formation received.
A very mysterious series of robberies
took place in London. The Yard asked
for any information that might be of
assistance One old landlady telephoned,
very much embarrassed: Il only want
to say" she explained, that I have
lodger who sleeps most Of the afternoon.