Evening star., 1939-12-10
Non>Political State Police Units
Suggested for Attack on Crime
F. B. is Success Dramatizes Possibility of a
Scotland Yard Plan, With Some
Powers Retained Locally
By Ernest Kirschfen.

separate from the Department Of JUS
tice with which it is now connected.
This does not mean that the F. B. I.
should take over the functions of the
ternal Revenue, the Enforcement Divi-
sion of the Alcohol Tax Unit, the Bureau
of Narcotics, the Secret Service, the Gus
toms Agency, the Border Patrol, the
Postal Inspectors and dozen other
Federal groups, all of which are active
police agencies
These groups, DR.. Millspaugh points
out, have specialized functions that can
be best performed by working In close
collaboration with those branches Of
the Federal Government to which they
are attached. A general police force,
for example, could not be as efficient in
investigating applicants for positions in
a specific Federal service as special
lied agency attached to that service.
Further, general police force should not
be expected to take over the work of
tax collection-a specialized task prop
erly assigned to the Intelligence Unit.
BY the same logic, it is unreasonable
to convert these specialized agencies into
general law-enforcement groups. It
would be highly inefficient to expect
the Intelligence Unit to apprehend muir
derers or to ferret out kidnapers. OF
course, in the line of its specialized
duties it may come on such criminals.
1t is impossible to eliminate all over
tapping. AS matter of fact, overlap
ping makes for greater effectiveness If
it does not lead to actual duplication Of
effort.
In spite of an occasional fare-up Of
professional rivalry, such as the claims
of both the F. B. I. and the Postal In
spectors for credit in the capture Of the
outlaw Alvin Karpis in 1886. actual oper-
ating conflicts between the Government
agencies are rare. They can be avoided
by jurisdictional agreements, co-opera-
ton in specific problems, the speedy ex-
change of information and an increased
stress on the co-ordinating function Of
the F. B. I.
More and more j. Edgar Hoover's
agency is becoming the national police
heved of almost all of its specialized de-
partmental duties, such as personal in
vestigations. It has also gone far in de-
veloping its co-ordinating facilities. Out
standing among these is its splendid file
of fingerprints, collected with the help of
other Federal agencies, hundreds of State
and municipal police departments and
70 foreign countries. This amazingly
| efficient organization will, without charge,
identify fingerprint, often by return
telegram. 1t will also post wanted"
notice against any fingerprint so that
police chief may be notified just as soon
as the wanted" person is arrested by
any cooperating agency.
Scientific Detection.
The F. B. I. laboratory for the study
| of handwriting, ballistics, bloodstains, tire
| impressions, ETC., also makes the latest
| methods of scientific detection available
to the whole country. Still other CO.
ordinating devices already developed are
| its stolen property files and its monthly
| Law Enforcement Bulletin, containing
the names, descriptions and fingerprints
| of persons hunted by the authorities as
| well as articles on scientific crime de-
| lection. Its uniform crime reports, al
though still leaving much to be desired,
| are the first approach to a meaningful
| picture of the extent of American crime.
Perhaps most important is the CO.
F.. B. I. agents in the field. These are
eXcellently trained men-80 per cent of
them are lawyers as well as crack marks
men-drilled in the latest police methods
in the bureaus own training school.
Through the establishment of the Ma
tional Police Academy in July, 1885, the
bureau has made at least some of this
schooling available to members of local
police departments.
Incidentally, this academy has made
for considerable degree Of understand
ing between the F. B. l. and local police
men. When an F. B. I. mana Oman,
If you will-walks into police head
quarters where there are two or three
men who have been ito school" in
Washington he is not regarded as an
interloper, but as welcome assistant
perhaps even as a personal friend.
Heart Of the Problem.
This Federal-State-local cooperation
is the very heart Of the crime control
problem, and DR.. Millspaugh thinks that
no sound solution can be reached with
out further development of the oper-
ating, research and promotional activi-
ties of ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS general
police agency.
Most actual police work, of course, will
have to be done by the proposed State
police agencies. There has been trend
in this direction for some time. State
police departments have been established
with functions ranging from the mere
patrolling of highways to the co-ordi-
nation of local law enforcement efforts,
but no commonwealth has yet estab-
lished a well-trained force to supersede
local agencies.
Tradition, prejudice, inertia and self
interest have conspired to block such .
reform. After all, the ofdce Of sheri6