Evening star., 1947-05-09
Director, Federal Bureau ot 1npesigation

The Dcst fngerprint and card
DiDisio7,, no1p tn the process OF bei
Guard Arnory, 1Dhere they scere ST.
Building No. 1, at Second and D str
fThe foIIo,Ding Is taken from Mr..
HooUer's testimony recently before
subcommittee OF the House Appro-
priutions Con1nsittee.J
The largest phase of our activity at
the seat Of Government is the Identtf1-
cation Division.
Since January as, 1947. under author
ity granted by the Attorney General,
the employees Of the bureaus Identifica-
tion Division have worked eight hours
overtime weekly, giving us a 48-hour
week. We had to request this overtime
service in an effort to keep abreast OF
the work being received in the Identifi-
cation Division. wanted to bring to
the committees attention the fact that
we have had very difficult problem In
the operation of the Identification Divi-
sion by reason of the fact that the work
being received has far exceeded the
capacity Of the personnel which we had
been allowed for that activity.
For instance, I have had to recently
notify all contributors to the Identifica-
ton Division that we will no longer be
able to handle applicant prints from
private or commercial organizations.
This means that airlines and other
gagged in very important work, some
times important work for the Govern
ment. which have In the past sent in
dngerprints Of applicants for employ
ment to us will not be able to secure
such service from us in the future. Many
times, in reporting back on such finger
prints, the police records have been long
and undoubtedly resulted in applicants
not obtaining the positions sought.
For instance, there have been cases
where individuals have applied for en-
ployment In essential industry who had
been arrested previously for arson or
sabotage or malicious mischief and
through the identification of these rec
ords in our Identification Division, We
have been able to advise the prospective
employer of this fact. Under our present
curtailed operations, this service Is be-
ing discontinued.
I have orls my desk this morning q
letter from an airline company asking
that we make an exception in their
behalf, because they are setting up bases
throughout the Far East in order to
operate their service and they want 70
be certain that their employees will be
people who are reliable, of good charac-
ter, and loyalty. We cannot render that
service. Just do not have the personnel
with which to do 1t.
BLACK Dahlia."
1t may be necessary to discontinue
other very important Identification
services. These include such services as
checking the fingerprint records for the
purpose of identifying unknown dead.
A few weeks ago young woman, later
named as the BLACK Dahlia," was found
murdered In Los Angeles. Her body was
found badly cut up in vacant lot in
that city. We identified that girl. The
Los Angeles Examiner, in cooperation
with the Los Angeles Police Department,
telephotographed her fingerprtnts to us.
The Identification Division identified
those prints in Sc minutes. A previous
employer from Santa Barbara had sent
her prints to us in the past in connection
with her private employment.
Services such as above may necessarily
have to be discontinued If the operating
staff Of the Identification Division Is
reduced to such an extent that only
criminal f1ngerprints can be handled.
The delinquency in the Identification
Division today comprises 1881 1881 prints.
We are that far behind in our work.
Last year, when was before the COM
mittee, I called the attention Of the
committee to the fact that at that time we
had a delinquency of 3,536,5 prints.
That number has dropped, but it is still
nearly 100000 prints today. We should
have had 2,10o employees in the present
fiscal year in order to handle that work
properly. We were allowed 1,500 en-
ployes in that division. For that reason
the delinquency grew. The work Is not
decreasing in this current year. We have
an increase In crime. We have the
Civil Service prints coming in. We have
the Veterans Administration sending
prints over to be checked for veterans
allowances and also we have the finger
prints of aliens coming into the country.
1t cost us $50, 1888 600 to operate the
bureau. Fines, savings and recoveries
in cases investigated by the bureau
totaled $68, 1886. The fugitives located
by the bureau In the last fiscal year
tofoIad in Qon Tha o1YfornohilncA rernu-
cred totaled 11,458. In the matter of
fugitives. that was an increase over the
last fiscal year OF 2,035 apprehensions,
and the increase in the number OF auto
mobiles recovered is 1856.
Convicted 97.S Per Cent.
would also like to bring to the atten-
tion of the committee record Of which
we are rather proud. In reference to
the convictions which have just men,
toned, I want to state that 97.3 per
cent Of all persons brought to trial
during 1916 by the Federal Bureau OF
Investigation were convicted. That is
a higher percentage than In the previous
year. We had q record In the previous
year Of 969 per cent.
OF the II, 1,873 convictions obtained in
that year, 81 per cent pleaded guilty,
they did not stand trial. with the result
that only 1,456. or II per cent. OF the
There Is abroad In this land . bad
case OF the jitters In our state Of ex-
citement and nervousness q gun could
go on In the wrong place and at the
wrong time. Do you mothers and