Evening star., 1951-03-07
Cars
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cars. But even before the agents
reports came in to verify Davis
own confessions and to explain
what the FBI field Offices knew
about the theft, an FBI spokes-
man said its system depends on
whether the agencies report the
thefts to the FBI.
Fooiproof Record Here.
AS it stands now, the District
appears to be the only place in
the country where a virtually fool
proof record is kept of Govern
ment cars.
Elsewhere in the country, ac-
cording to law enforcement and
traffic officials. more attention is
paid to the insured private car
that gets stolen than to the Gov
ernment car. Insurance compa-
nies, it was explained, make it
their business to see that every
motor vehicle department in every
State is notified when an insured
car is stolen.
Several years ago. the Govern
Notwithstanding to realize that
keeping track of it's vehicles was
a major problem-set up a new
system. w. A. McCutcheon. the
man brought into Government by
the Budget Bureau to do some
thing about motor vehicle man
agement. explained it this way:
In the Washington Metropoli-
tan Area, Government cars are
treated the same as private cars
by the District Department of We
hicles and Traffic. The depart
ment issues the tags for all Fed
eral vehicles based in this area,
and the agencies are required to
re-register their vehicles every
year. The department also keeps
the same records on Federal cars
that it does on private ones. That
includes motor number files, title
files and alphabetical files by
agencies.
Registration Laxity Tightened.
If a Government car based in
this area is stolen and later alb
andoned-even if its tags are gone
the car can be speedily identi-
fed.
For the Governments far-flung
field cars, it's different story.
Each agency sends a block of num-
bers to Lorton Reformatory, where
the tags are made up. These blocks
of numbers bear a letter preflx-A
for Agriculture, I for Interior, etc.
The truck Davis says he stole bore
the license tag w (for War; -7780.
Since the Government tags is
sued by the District Department
of Vehicles and Traffic bear no
letter prefix, it is clear that one
with a letter belongs in the field.
But where is the question that
has sometimes led police to scratch
their heads.
Theoretically, there is no prob
lem. Mr.. McCutcheon said every
department is required to keep a
list of it's cars, showing where
every car is located by tag num-
ber. in the Secretary's Office.
Not a One Call Job.
Then why did a veteran of the
Police Departments Auto Squad
say that, when he gets request
to identify a Government auto,
"I have to go all over the United
States to find out who owns it, i"
if it does not show up in the.Dis-
trict Traffic Department files as
Washington based vehicle?
A check of a few agencies by
The Star showed that each one
has its own system of keeping
track of it's cars and the Secre-
tary's Office is only the starting
point in the search for informa-
ton.
In each department, it de-
veloped, the trick is to know
where to go. Although most of
the agencies boast that they can
locate any car quickly, their pro-
cedures apparently vary on re-
porting stolen ones.
Because of the lack OF uni-l