Evening star., 1933-07-30
WORLD BUREAU TO FIGHT
! CRIME GOAL OF POLICE
Success Of Experimental Work Thus Far
Convinces Authorities of Many
Lands of Its Efficiency.
BY JOHN WALKER HARRINGTON.

By JOHN WALKER HARRINGTON.
r Tow great is the need for globe
wide suppression of crime was
vividly expressed here last week
i i by foreign delegates to an in
ternational meeting OF police
officials at Chicago The object of their
sessions is to form World Police Bu-
reau for the collection and distribution
of Information concerning the powers
that prey. They planned to assemble
in the city where is now being held the
Century of Progress Exposition IN the
hope that the years to come will develop
new and still more efficient methods OF
migrate from country to country.
The menace of the international
criminal has been increasing ever since
the World War. American gangsters.
as so picturesquely told in the novels Of
the late Edgar Wallace. are invading
England Driven from their own coun-
tries, famous evildoers cross and re-
cross European borders. Hunted out OF
the Continental cities they travel over
the ocean ferry and by hook and by
crook find new haunts in New York,
Chicago, Mexico City, Buenos Aires and
other large communities of the twin
Americas.
ouch a concerted movement as that
planned in Chicago naturally recalls
that in the last century considerable
progress has been made in internation-
al warfare on the criminal element.
Once many classes of lawbreakers were
able to flee to countries where, owing
to the absence of extradition treaties,
it was impossible to arrest them. De-
faulters from the United States mad
only to pass the Canadian border to
enjoy the riches of thievery undis-
turbed Certain South American coun-
tries were havens of refuge for GRIM
inaIs from all parts of the world. To-
ward the close of the nineteenth CEN
fury. however. the cooperation between
the governments and police departments
had been steadily gaining. The pro-
moters of the World Bureau believe 1t
will unity all civilized countries Tor an
intensive campaign against these foes
of society, no matter where they go.
Three Groups Represented
The organizations represented at the
Chicago conclave, in the order OF SEMI
ority, are the International Association
of Police Chiefs, the International Po-
lice Conference and the International
Criminal Police Commission. The
headquarters of the first two are in the
United States, that of the association
in Detroit, at present, and that of the
conference in New York. Both have
foreign members. The home OF the
third member of the group. the Inter-
national Criminal Police Commission.
is Vienna. There are several other
leagues or associations of police and
detectives in this country that might
be included when the plans OF the or
,~$I
Oldest of the triad, the International
Association of Police Chiefs is the sue
cesscr to the National Police Chiefs
Union, which was founded in st. Louis
in 1871. 1t was started with the idea
of standardizing police service, in
creasing the tenure of Office OF the
members of the force and for the ex-
change of Information about fugitives
from justice. It almost faded out in
few years, but was revived In 1893 at
a meeting called at the Worlds Fair in
Chicago. The same thought of world
cooperation dominated the meeting
then, as it does at the present moment.
This was stimulated by the progress
made in identifying criminals other
than by photographs and descriptions.
The Bertillon system Of measure
ments was being introduced. followed
later by fngerprinting. Both methods,
being thoroughly scientific, made identi-
fication easier, and are used in descrip-
tive circulars broadcast in this country
and sent to Europe and other parts OF
the world. The late Maj. Richard Syl-
vester, head of the District of Columbia
police, was for Is years the president Of
the International Association of Police
Chiefs The headquarters, following
the custom Of having them in the city
where the president lived, were in
Washington. Later they were at VIII
mington, Del, for some years. The
association has several thousand men,
bers. active, inactive and honorary. As
its membership fees are only $40 year,
it has never had budget large enough
to do extensive work.
Washington Bureau Established.
Owing to its recommendation, how
ever, there was established in WASH
| tngton the Bureau of Criminal Identi-
fioation. with offices in the Department
of Justice. For the bureaus support
Congress makes an annual appropria-
ton, although, for reasons inherent in
the system Of American government.
that unit has never had an official
status such as similar one abroad
might have had. The various States
are supposed to send in reports. statis-
tics and flngerprints. photographs and
the like to this bureau, but they cannot
be compelled to do 50 by law. BY the
Constitution. as generally interpreted,
the police powers are reserved to the
States themselves, and therefore the
cooperation of the police departments
of the various cities is voluntary. How
ever, the bureau has about 1,750,ooo
fiingerprintS and is adding to its COL
lection onnrnvip1 to1v C00 mn
One of the obstacles to scientific and
exact reporting of crimes and the gath
ering of statistics has been the absence
of standardized classification. In some
States, for instance, murders, man.
slaughter and homicides are not so
sharply defined as they should be. To
advance a better means of classifying.
the Committee of Uniform Crime Rec
Crds was sponsored by the Association of
Police Chiefs. The funds for the re-
search required for the formulation of
an improved system were furnished by
the Bureau of Social Hygiene. which in
turn is financed by the Rockefeller
Foundation.
Among the objects of the Interna-
tional Association of Police Chiefs are:
Closer official and personal relation
snip among the police at home and
abroad
Oulty OF aCllOn In ponce maCLerS.
Elevation of the standards of police
institutions by urging the elimination
of politics.
Extending the tenure of Office in
service
Detection and prevention of crime.
Development of methods of identifi-
cation of criminals
Improvement of methods of identifi-
cation and of disseminating information
concerning criminals.
Enright Founded Conference.
Akin in its objects to the association,
Is the International Police Conference
| 1t was organized as the National Police
| Conference in 1920 by Richard E. En-
right. then commissioner of police in
New York. and the following year took