London, June 26.
Audacious methods are being used by crooks in Britain to learn secret ways used by Scotland Yard to catch them.
Scotland Yard chiefs have learned that, police have been instructing cróóks for several weeks on crime detection.
The blunder was discovered wher: a London police station inspector: asked the criminal records office at Scotland Yard for the file of an arrested man.
Startled officials found that the man, who had a long list of previous convictions, was a member of the Police War Reserve. As a part of his training he must have been shown the inner workings of the Yard, including the information room, nerve centre of crook-catching, and the map room, where coloured flags denote the prevalence of crime in different areas.
He would also have been instructed in police methods of trapping offenders, and would have had access to official instructions.
A quick survey strengthened the suspicions of Yard officials that the man was not the only crook who had taken advantage of police information to break the law.
Hitherto recruits for the reserve have only had to fill in a form and pass a medical test. There has been no investigation of character. Orders have now been issued to close this loophole in the regulations—United Press.
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