Modus Operandi Section of Police Know Them. mem When any fairly complicated crime committed by an habitual criminal, the culprit usually leaves his visiting ear 'The visiting card may be in the form of a certain manner of entry (in the case of a burglar), a certain manner of approach (in' the case of a Iriekster), or the crime itself may bbe unusual: the work of a specialist lone in his particular eld.
Criminals usually stick toa certain type of crime. Pickpockets, for instance, do not turn to kidnapping or fraud: they adhere to the one enter-Prisg for which they have trained themselves, Because criminals are creatures of habit (ike all other members of the Face) every large police force in the World has 'a modus operandi section which classifics habitual wrongdoers and makes it easy to recognize It when they have been at work. In the Shanghai Municipal Police' this activity so division. of the Crime Branch, and through the courtesy of Mr. 8." C. Young. Deputy Commissioner, a "North-China Dally News" reporter was permitted yesterday to investigate its workings.
The "m. a" section identifies criminals by means of the methods. employed by them. Not only does it Ineip detectives to find the persons they want, but it also tends to perfect charges against criminals already under arrest. A certain offender may Insist that he has never been arrested before, yet the index system will rove him to have committed the' same crime. in the identical manner, many times "previously, On' each occasion he has put his personal chop fon the finished product! History re-eats itself.
Many Kinds of Burglars Take burglaries in the Settlement, for instance. Burglars usually. will employ the same method of entry—Glimbing, cutting. digging. breaking through doors, through windows, removing shutters, ete—there are fotirteen main divisions and about seventy subdivisions classifying " burglars the files of the Municipal. Police. There are burglars who use rope, who use ladders which they find on the premises, who carry their own ladders (cat burgla: s). There are those who raid the pantry and have a good feed before they leave their victim's house, And many other kinds of burg Under the heading of frauds and larcenies by trick, there are about thirty subdivisions. "Robberies are classified according to the dialect of the perpetrators, the mode of entry, and any peculiarities exhibited.
Counterfeiters and coiners also have their distinguishing marks, which are minutely described in the records.
"Specialists" are those who go after a certain kind of loot and no other. They are listed according to the type of property they favour. There are comparatively few such criminals in Shanghai.
When any habitual criminal is sent to gaol, his index card is transferred to the "Gaol File" and a card bearing merely his modus operand) number substituted in the general file. When he gets out again, his card goes "back into circulation" and the Police eon the look-out for him should he resume his career.
Tokens and Coppers One of the "specialists" now in the
'Company employee wh 8 pre-Ward! Road Gaol is former' Bus dilection for' tokens and coppers. When he was sentenced his career fneluded fifteen charges of theft of this type. He knows the habits of
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.