Evening star., 1936-03-14


maintained by the Metropolitan Police
Department to enable them to study
the crime and accident problems of
the Nations Capital.
No bulky and burdensome files are
used. No huge volumes are consulted
when pertinent information is wanted
about any angl, on crime or accidents
here.
The backbone of the system is
small sorting machine and thousands
OF small index cards, the preforationS
OF which tell interesting stories when
they are run through this machine at
the rate of 400 per minute.
1t is a machine similar 70 that used
by the United States Fingerprint Bu-
reau at the Department of Justice, but
unlike that used by the G-men. it
sorts out facts, not fingerprintS.
So widely has this wonderful statis-
tical system become known that. dur
ing the past two years, high police
officials from a dozen foreign coun-
tries have journeyed here to inspect it.
In addition, scores of police officials
from dozens of large and small Amer
lean cities have spent days at the
headquarters of the Metropolitan Po-
lice at 462 Louisiana avenue, studying
1t and carrying away with them USE
full ideas to be used by their own de-
partments. During the recent con-
Vention of police chiefs here the cards,
maps and mechanical appliances of
the system were taken to the hotel
headquarters of the visiting police
heads, where, while the local police
went about their daily task Of COM
piling facts with it, the visitors studied
1t and asked countless questions.
Although the local police have
maintained a bureau of statistics for
years, it was not until nearly three
years ago that it was put upon its
present efficient basis.
1t Is under the direct supervision
of Inspector Lewis I. H. Edwards, who
has a staff of one civilian employe and
four privates from the police ranks
to do the work.
There is hardly a question ABOUT
crime and accidents which the ma
chine and its cards will not answer.
TN WHAT particular neighborhood
are hold-ups and burglarieS most
likely to occur?
What are most dangerous corners in
the District as far as traffic accidents
are concerned?
How many persons were injured by
falls on slippery streets during the
Winter months?
Are there more criminals among
youths under II years of age than
over?
How many persons bave been ar
rested for drunkenness during the past
month, year or three years?
Put a handful or more of certain
colored cards in the machine, press
the starting button, and within a
minute or two after they have been
run through, the totals or answer
to the questions asked, are registered
on mechanical counting dials on its
side
The whole process is mechanical
and there is eliminated the human
equation in the compiling of the
figures, for unless the machine gets
out of order, and it seldom does, it
Is impossible to make a mistake.
Four different colored cards, Tx
IA inches in size, are used to recc I'd
the data.
Forty-five vertical rows of figures
from to 9 are on their face with
printed classiflcations over them. Not
one written or typed word is used to
record information upon them.
Instead they are put into a small
perforating device. resembling an add
ing machine, and the clerk. reading
from the written report of the police
man on the scene of the crime or
accident, perforateS the various figures
in the columns, following out a care
fully prepared code which was built
three years ago
THIS code is so thorough that it
contains numbers for every pos-
sible crime and full information about
1t. Likewise it will faithfully record
every type of accident with full details.
even to the intersection at which it
occurred
j. G. Neff, the civilian clerk, who
aided in building this code, gave an
example Of its thoroughness. He took
from the files card on the stealing
of an auto, which is of the type used
to record all crimes.
In the first column is noGed the
precinct. This enables the bureau
to put all crime cards in the machine
and determine in few minutes in Just
what precincts or neighborhoods the
most crimes of any type are COM
mitted during a given period. It goes
into further detail. giving the num-
Der OF the policeman's beat upon which
the crime occurred, enabling the de-
partment to trace even closer the spots
in which crime is rampant
Then comes the column telling from
where the auto was stolen. There are
code numbers to indicate whether it
was from the public street, a parking
lot or garage. Run the stolen auto
cards through the machine and you
tell quickly from which spot most of
the thieves are picking their plunder
Next comes the day of the week,
the date and the time, the class Of
auto stolen, the value Of the car and
what finally happened to it. whether
It was recovered and by whom.
There are three different classifi-
cations for valuing cars. If the ma
chine is worth less than $35, the thief
is liable to prosecution under the
District laws for only petty larceny.
If it is worth more he can be prose-
cuted for grand larceny. If the thief
stole the car in violation of the Fed
eral laws he can be prosecuted for
petty larceny only If the machine is
valued at less than $50. So all of
these differences are noted to make
the statistics Of the crime more COM
plete.
Recording the time and day Of tlF
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