July 10, 2008

Bank Teller’s Cage Has Fourteen Ways To Foil Holdups (Sep, 1940)

Bank Teller’s Cage Has Fourteen Ways To Foil Holdups

No matter what tactics a robber may attempt, the teller in the special bank cage pictured at the right has a card up his sleeve to foil him. Installed in the demonstration room of a company manufacturing protective devices for banks, stores, warehouses, and other places of business, the cage is equipped with fourteen separate electrical devices, most of which are hidden and capable of secret operation while the teller apparently obeys the orders of his armed “customer.” In the photograph, the teller is shown operating an alarm button under the counter with his left hand while handing over cash with his right.

June 11, 2008

Beating the Thug to His Own Gun (Aug, 1931)

This doesn’t sound like such a smart idea.

Beating the Thug to His Own Gun

Chicago Police, Trained to Handle Armed Men, Show, in Series of Pictures, How Weapons Can Be Wrested from Footpad

WHAT TO DO AND HOW. Photos on this and following page give a good idea of how officers are taught to disarm a thug even after he has them covered. Above, Sergeant John Leonard, right, and Detective William Foley, of the Chicago Police Department, pose for the first of the pictures in the series that proves that an armed man has not an unbeatable advantage even though he has his weapon in his hand and is desperate enough to use it. Read the rest of this entry »

June 3, 2008

“Water Auto” for Police Hits High Speed (Sep, 1939)

“Water Auto” for Police Hits High Speed

Like a streamline automobile without wheels, the odd “water auto” shown above in a trial run along the Thames River in England, can hit a top speed of thirty-five miles an hour although it is driven by a motor rated at only nine horsepower. Designed especially as a police patrol boat for emergency work on the waterfronts of large cities, the craft has its engine forward and a three-place passenger cabin perched over the stern. The center windshield section forms part of a hatch through which entrance is made into the cabin, which provides all the comforts of a luxurious motor car.

June 2, 2008

Midget Radio for Policemen Is Carried in Pocket (Nov, 1936)


Midget Radio for Policemen Is Carried in Pocket

Latest equipment for the English bobby is a miniature radio receiving set with which he picks up instructions from police headquarters while on duty. The set is so small that the policeman carries the complete outfit in his pocket.

May 1, 2008

Cops get a dome light (Nov, 1968)

Cops get a dome light
Japanese motorcycle cops are being outfitted with these new helmets, which have a flashing light on top. Police can use the light to flag down drivers or to control traffic on heavily traveled city streets.

April 30, 2008

How Science Will Foil the SKYJACKERS (Nov, 1970)

How Science Will Foil the SKYJACKERS

To see how new techniques and technology will thwart a potential air pirate, start here

By PAUL WAHL
ILLUSTRATION BY ROY DOTY

Ninety-seven passengers showed up for the flight, but 96 were on the Miami-bound plane when it took off from a New York airport one recent evening. Left at the gate, in the custody of two deputy U.S. marshals, was a gun-toting traveler. They nailed him after the loaded .38 revolver in his shoulder holster triggered a new weapons detector—one of the ingenious countermeasures devised by science to keep in-flight crime from getting off the ground.
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April 26, 2008

Off to Prison Convicts Ride in Rumble Seat “Jail” Cage (May, 1936)

Off to Prison Convicts Ride in Rumble Seat “Jail” Cage

Oklahoma has a jail on wheels to take its convicts to prison. Instead of a rumble seat, the prison transfer car has a barred steel cage mounted behind the coupe body. Alex Watson, in charge of the transfer of prisoners, can watch his wards in the cage by a mirror from the driver’s seat. The traveling jail accommodates four convicts, having a padded seat on each side. The floor is carpeted and the back door is covered by a drop curtain of heavy duck for protection from the weather.

April 25, 2008

Solving Crimes By Hypnosis (Apr, 1960)

Solving Crimes By Hypnosis

By George J. Barmann

TWENTY YOUNG POLICEMEN were sitting in the bright, comfortable classroom of the County Coroner’s Building, on the campus of Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, listening to a lecture on methods of questioning witnesses to a crime.

A psychotherapist, Dr. Dezso Levendula, was conducting the lesson in scientific law enforcement, one of the regular courses given by the university’s noted Law-Medicine Center. He was speaking that morning about the difficulty of getting witnesses to recall accurately what they have seen. Behind him, on a sofa facing the class, were two stenographers, busily taking notes on the lecture. The audience of patrolmen and several guests was attentive, but relaxed. Only the occasional hum of an automobile outside the windows cut into the professor’s talk.
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April 12, 2008

SPIES OF INDUSTRY IN ACTION (Nov, 1936)

SPIES OF INDUSTRY IN ACTION

A Former Operative Reveals Espionage Methods of Unusual But Important Phase of Detective Work Often Required to Keep Up With Procession in Bitter Business Rivalry, FOR several years I was one of those individuals who style themselves “process investigator,” but which in most cases is only a polite name for an “industrial spy.” The structure of our industrial business is such that large manufacturers must know not only what his competitor is doing in order to keep pace with him; but he must also know whether that competitor is using any processes patented by the former.
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April 7, 2008

Cops’ COLD FEET Heated by electricity (Jun, 1932)

Cops’ COLD FEET Heated by electricity

CLOTHED in a new electrically heated uniform, recently developed by the General Electric Company, a policeman can stand at street intersections directing traffic all day long in the coldest weather and keep as warm as if he were inside.

Several thin rubber strips about 1/2 inch wide and very flexible, with a heating element vulcanized inside, are sewed into the uniform, and thin insoles of the same material are fitted in the shoes. These are connected by small insulated wires to metal plates attached to the heels of the shoes, the positive wire leading to one foot and the negative to the other.

If cold, the officer merely steps on two insulated plates set flush with the pavement. One plate is connected to the positive terminal of a 12-volt storage battery placed in a box below the plates, and the other to the negative terminal. The sole plates form the contacts and within 15 seconds the heating units begin to warm up.

April 5, 2008

Trained to Get Their Man on the Run (Jun, 1930)

Trained to Get Their Man on the Run. Members of the Berlin, Germany, police force are taught to shoot at running objects by pictures thrown on a screen by a movie projector that gives an illusion of life to the targets. Sharpshooters are required to make good scores at this practice work before they can join the regular squad. Animals racing across a small screen are difficult to hit even at short distances, us here.

March 28, 2008

BIBLE HIDES DRUGS (Nov, 1928)

BIBLE HIDES DRUGS
Mechanical ingenuity of narcotic smugglers is constantly being tested in devising new methods of bringing their contraband goods safely into the country. The picture shows a Bible which has been hollowed out in the center to provide a hiding place for thousands of dollars worth of morphine and other opiates. The book was confiscated by Internal Revenue inspectors.

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