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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 16, 1936)
l V i - - ii - - v . T ft - ' " A j v;p t;: Action! H. H. Clegg, an assistant in the Department of Justice, is here shown lecturing to the first police class in the depart ment's school for police Uncle Sam's G Men Are Giving City Police Forces the Full. Benefit of Their Training War to Exterminate Criminals Gets Under Way By John L. Coontz A MAN stealthily creeps up behind another on the roof of a Govern ment building in Washington. A gun flashes in the sunlight and a bit of cold steel presses In the side of the man ap proached. "Hands up!" cries the gun man. But instead of "hands up," the robber gets the surprise of his life. His victim drops, makes a lightning half circle and seizes the gun hand in a vise-like grip. For the fraction of a second he holds the gun off and then, in a movement that baffles the eye to follow, he gives that "killer arm" a twist that shoots the gun across the roof of the building, and leaves its owner writhing in pain. , At this point a third man steps up. Critically he examines the situation. And then: "Try again. Shoot that gun farther away. Get between it and the robber.' -Hold tight to that elbow and wrist after you have got your man at your advantage. Don't give him a chance to get back on his feet squarely. And while you've got him "broken' slip the 'cuffs' on him." A REV It. REAL "hold-up?" No. Not a bit of Just a class In the training of a score of police officers frca every corner in the United States in he manner of criminal apprehension and of crime so lution. It is one of the United States Department of Justice answers to critics who say crime is still rampant. The first national class of police offi cers receiving this training has Just completed Its course and its membership returned to the nation-wide cities from which it was drawn. There they will impart the knowledge gained to mem bers of their own departments. So criminals beware I What about the training these, men have received that places them in the forefront of criminal detectives of the world? In the first place, let us look at the type of men selected to receive the in struction. They are all young. Men in the prima of life, well buDt, highly in telligent, noted for criminal work in their respective cities. They were the pick of twenty-one police departments of the Nation. Their criminal studies at the "college" consisted of psychiatry, road-blocking, cryptogram decoding, latest fingerprint development, ballistics, use of ultra violet light in the study of invisible inks, blood and powder stain analysis, gun firing and jujutsu. Classes in all these subjects were con ducted by experts called to Washington from every part of America. For eight weeks these students went into labora tories, Into classrooms, out upon the firing range and to the roof of the De partment of Justice Building. And Just to see what they learned, let us take a turn with them for a day or so. Out to the firing range at Quantlco. Va, where the United States marines practice their rifle and machine-gun fire, we trek by automobile. The auto is a moving arsenal of firearms. There are rifles, revolvers, submachine guns, tear gas bombs and gas guns. Arriving at the firing range, the en- jil ''J3' 'y f'jUl ' '" v5rw camera-box' affair Is brought Into the ff- ,, 1 !l&sr?'&J'v- ft 1 V. S&LPtljB33 i.T room- A letter sheet Is placed In it and i f - jF VW , ' fe;F:: 1 STaCrx a a swltch turncd- With the turning of iTTSnlfj 1 Vii-' fij f I W, W-Z: ( i i the switch the sheet of raper is flooded 11 Iff T ifi f 3f . r-U Y YJVJ I lth ultra-violet light. And, peering U l I LWl' . "' I & ''klH. W through the eyepiece of the apparatus. 131 I 1 ' piiKS f-' I B$& IjuSLh" V 1 the student may read the contents of i fill t , tt I IS the letters, written In invisible ink, un- 111 1 jfl ' Sfe Bgrfjs ?V sltffi I 8ble 1 be discovered by the naked eye. ill I I l"- I J k'X'$SJfo? t?Z i Powerful magnifying lenses bring out 111 ' I ' h V ff UT'" SNL )J the ridges of fingerprints. By examin- i I v "-' i .CJJ' 1 4 V yM&fw'f ing them under Increased magnification W 1 r'' . , V "JAlJ ' telr peculiarities are brought out. No 4L - a iil " two fln8erPr'nts arB le- The whorls j , """"rsj" 'J$f A and rld8ea that 8 'o make the tips are t " Jr '.'Jv JaT different in every human Individual. lf CV ' 't 'iLj' f' 'Js A?iSW4 m i fifek. ' Handed a piece of furniture, a knife, 4 rf" f w - 'Jr Hki IjSt&''J plece of PaDer or some other object, :'"7f 'T. - 4WS'jS?f ,he student ,s now Instructed to take a vv 'iL;v,f!i! .? -! lii1 s B?l I TwiW a fingerprint Impression from the specl- Aj'ftAjP' S. Ty.Q'l men. A fine powder is dusted oor the - - ' ( ) $$ki"'"'lS paper and then brushed off. This Is A '; ' ".'' JrsSl a4y J "set" by chemical means and later pho- Science is greatly aiding police in solving crim At the right is a microscopic picture while above is shown an examina tion being made under a powerful infra-red ray light tire class piles out. Guns are removed and the class takes its position. For two hours the staccato of machine-gun Are rolls over the field; the crack of pistol Are, the fumes of gas bombs. Inter spersed with this "warfare" are scenes of firing from behind barricades at "robbers" equipped with "subs"; of buildings being "rushed" with tear-gas bombs and tear-gas guns; of automo biles chasing' each other from which fly shots as fast as "gangsters" and pur suing officers can spill them. THE morning class In gun-firing hav ing completed its work, the students return to the Department of Justice Building. Here Uiey are introduced to "Oscar." "Oscar" is the queerest fellow you ever saw. He Is different from humankind in that he Is not human. "Oscar" Is a dummy, but even at that he plays a most important role of all the equip ment of the Justice Department in the education of criminal sleuths. Into a mom equipped with a chair or two. a table and a few other minor things, "Oscar" Is brought by his mas ter, Hugh Clegg, assistant director of the Bureau of Investigation. His Intro duction is unceremonious to the group gathered round. "Oscar" Is thrown forci bly upon the floor, knocking over a chair, dislocating a table, upsetting a lamp and kit king up a dust. And there he lira. Right side up or right side down, "Oscar" lies tliere until he has served his useful and important mission In training the "criminal students" on how to observe the details of a crime. He has a knife stuck In his back. He has been heaved Into the room by a criminal I -to.--. - S'jtt&TVm. V e and fixing guilt. '?. fS'i; 2C3'fttM graphed of a piece Police students at the crime school also were gang that has Just murdered him. Or maybe they haven't, or maybe he has not been murdered by a gang at all. All of this Is for the class to deter mine. They are to discover whether the bullet wound in "Oscar's" temple was made after the knife wound In his back or vice versa. The identity of "Oscar" Is also to be worked out. Row to he dressed? Expensively? Poorly? Or half and half a good coat that baa seen society days and a pair of pants that came from down In the slum district? Is "Oscar" a bum that has received a handout, or is "Oscar" a gentleman that has fallen to a low estate in life from which he has not been V to rise? What else about "Oscar." Has he a handkerchief on his person? A watch? His hands and feet are they small? of woolen goods, tyfcA-J lf . m connection wn mis nngerpnnt Shi - ' - - . ' ' - ' j In UnLj not only studied the latest scientific put through a strenuous course in Have the hands ever dons manual work or are they hands of a rambler, a dilet tante? Any cigarette stain on those fingertips? For two hours or more the class works over' "Oscar," taking notes, making comparisons, deduction and drawing conclusions. When all Is completed the class turns In Its papers and then listens to a lecture In which the character at "Oscar" to revealed, his calling in life and how he was murdered. "Oscar" disposed of, the class now rt celrta individual slips of paper. These slips are plain, whit letter sheets with no writing on them. The clam turns them over and over with instructions to read their contents. This Is impossible until the secret is revealed as to how they may be read. For this purpose a TV ! f 1.1 -OA methods of erime solution, but they calisthenics taking the students are Instructed In a new method which, according to offi cials, Is superior to the old. This is the nitrate silver method. It opens a whole new field of fingerprinting. The dust method of taking finger prints meets with its best success only when the fingerprints are taken from a smooth surface. The silver nitrate method does not require a smooth sur face. In using it fingerprints may be taken from rough surfaces, such as a shirt collar, a sock, a tie or bed cloth ing. Even the criminal who has hoped to hide his Identity through the use of gloves at the scene of his crime Is no longer safe. The silver nitrate permits the taking of Impressions of fingers from inside gloves. The silver nitrate method of taking Ballistic microscopes play a big part in solving many crimes where bullets were used by gunmen fingerprints Is quite simple. All that is needed Is a knowledge of photography, a small amount of silver nitrate and a strong light, rich in ultra-violet rays. Salt reacts with silver nitrate, -o when the criminal has touched a piece of cloth with his hands or handled It the sweaty salt of his hand or finger tips are left on the cloth. All that Is necessary is to get a photochemical re-' action from this salt, such as is ob tained in any photographic process. As a consequence, therefore, the finger printed fabric is treated with a ,10 per cent solution of nitrate of silver. Result: insoluble sliver chloride which blackens when subjected to light treatment. This blacking process reveals the whorls and lines of the tips of the criminal fingers. Another startling method of check ing on criminals is available through a recent invention in the Department of Agriculture. This Is the Invention of a "sheer," as it has been called. The "sheer" consists of a razor blade working In a slot after the manner of the familiar cigar cutter. Its use is confined largely to fabric material and the slicing of Infinitesimal cross-sections from threads of the material for identification. For Instance, If a murder has been committed and a few strands of the sweater worn by the slayer have been found, the up-to-date sleuth takes out his "sllcer" In the laboratory and pulls a strand of wool from the sweater. He places one end of the strand through the opening In the middle. He pushes his razor-blade cutter across the open ing, catching the end of the thread and cutting it In half. Performing this operation he has In his hand for the microscope two or three cross-sections of the woolen thread about one ten thousandth of an Inch in thickness. Placed under a microscope on a slide to which they have been fastened by tiny drops of glue, they are easy to Identify. The type of wool from which the sweater was made is thus easily identified. Long staple or short. From an early fleece or late fleece, according to the season. And in this manner, very much after the manner that Forester Kohler, of the Forest Service, identified the Lindbergh ladder, the piece of wool from the sweater strands found at the scene of the crime may be Identified and the murderer brought to Justice. TN ADDITION to the practical work given the young sleuths sent to Wash ington to study the latest and most ap proved methods of scientific criminal apprehension, instruction also Is being given them in such subjects as "Abnor mal Psychology," "Prosecution Adminis tration" and " Social Problems and So cial Changes." Such subjects give tht students pii insight Into the workings of the hurr mi mind and how to build a case agal'ist a suspect. For criminals have ma iy subtle methods of slipping through t'.in net that is cast for them, not the least of which are crooked lawyers. The new school for the perfection of law enforcement officers throughout the United States in the matter of criminal apprehension is the direct result of efforts put forth by Attorney General Cummlngs. When Attorney General Cummlngs came into office three years ago last March the country was overrun by gangsters of the worst criminal type. He set out to destroy them. How well ha has succeeded may be gathered from a, reading of the roster of gangsters killed or thrown Into Jail by the De partment of Justice in tills period of time. All the major gangsters are dead. On the statute books of the Federal Government are laws that make It al most certain death for a criminal to pick a fight with the Federal Govern ment. But It Is his crime school In which the Attorney General Justly takes pride. Slowly and painstakingly he has worked to accomplish the school and there has come to It from all over the country law officers to study the latest Federal methods In criminal apprehension. The first class of this school has been "graduated." It has gone back home ready to put Into application Its learn ing, the United States Attorney Oeneral believes. . Every effort will be mad. to make this school for police officers a permanent Institution so that local law enforcement agencies can have the benefit of the same efficient training that is given the famous O men. PAGE THREE
