Methods of Investigation

IN spite of the enormous increase of expenditure on the police department and the many improvements claimed to have been effected, the fact remains that in many cases police investigation fails to inspire public confidence. The methods adopted to detect the criminal and secure the evidence of crime are still in far too many cases too crude and antiquated for the twentieth country, and admittedly far behind those employed in the United Kingdom. It is no use pleading the ignorance or illiteracy of the policeman, or seek a palliation for his rough and ready methods on the score of his knowing no better ones. The question is not of the outturn-the percentage of cases in which conviction is secured, but also of quality of that outturn, and the methods employed to secure that outturn.