The Wilmington morning star., 1947-09-21
BY BOB KLINE
Staff Writer

a Wl0O-oW
has solved 1873 per cent OF the
major and minor crimes before
it for investigation, a study OF
official department records
showed yesterday.
Police were presented with
1852 cases to investigate. Forty
two were solved. Eleven Of the
a we're solved with the assist
ance of outside police and prl-
vate citizens who furnished the
names of the criminals. This
gave local police a solution rec
ord of 25.9 per cent including
outside aid.
"We are operating more eff1-
GENTLY than ever BEFORE" said
Police Chief Hubert Hayes when
asked for comment on the fig
ures.
The cases consisted of lar
cenies, burglaries, murder, en-
bezzlement, forgery, armed rob-
berry, criminal assault, escapes
and break-ins.
Chief Hayes termed the rec
ord of solutions "only. fair"
After the reorganization,
planned by former FBI agent
Roy Morgan for a fee OF $l,725,
a Tightening of discipline follow
ed. Several officers were sus-
pended for issuing "undermin-
ing criticism"
Revamping within the depart
ment included changes in shifts,
hours, beats and records.
Both police officers and news
reporters welcomed the new
system of records, without
which the statistics presented in
the article would have been I'M
available.
The tally for the go days in
cluded:
SO larcenies-28 solved.
% burglaries-five solved.
One murder unSolved.
Seven embellishments - two
solved.
Is break-ins-two solved.
One false pretense - one
solved.
One criminal assault none
solved.
Two highway robberies- two
solved.
Two escapees-none solved.
Two auto tamperings - two
solved.
One forgery-one solved.
Detectives marked "a of the
cases "silent" Ono publication,
and of these five were solved
Basis of the ''silent" proce
dure, according to- Capt. L.. A
league, head of the detective
division, is that newspaper pub
licity on crimes which detec.
tives are investigating may hin
der the possibility Of solutions
When a case is withheld from
publication, the word "silent" is
added to the description of the
crime on the daily summary
which is typed with seven car
bon copies by the desk sergeant
Each case is numbered, anc
when additional information is
received on it, the facts are
shown on the summary anc
identified by the original case
number.
In the records office, headed
by 1t. Earl Sanders and assist.
ed by Sgt. H. E. Williamson, 6
"preliminary report" is flee
along with an identifying mum.
bered card.
In the file, cases are main
tanned in three classes.-''open''
"closed" and "inactive".
"Open" cases are those which
are being investigated by detec-
tives. Those in which investiga-
tons have been made but with
out solutions are marked "inac-
tive". And the cases that have
resulted in successful investiga-
tons followed by arrests
and convictions are termed
"closed".
With the move of Harry E.
Fales' city-county bureau of
to the records Of
flee yesterday greater efficiency
is hoped for in the handling of
criminal records.
Formerly Fales, who has
headed the bureau since its in
ception in 1885, had a larger Of
flee in the county court house
than the present one in the city
hall. But City Manager J.. r.
Benson felt that the records of
the bureau of Identification
should be closer to those of the