OCR Text |
Show TliE-FOOf-SIX' i SQUAD GETS 'EM j Debonair Scotland Yard j Aces Disdain Derby . i and Long Cigar. ; London, England. There are certain J brave and efficient gentlemen at Scot- land Yard who not only display dls- daln for. the derby hat and the long cigar of the Hollywood detective, but ', who are noted in police circles for the size of their feet, namely the small- ', ness thereof. They do not carry the ' bulk of the original copper who iu- ! spired the ancient and venerable pro- verb that all policemen have big feet, . and they are all less than six feet tall. These young police officers are known officially as the "flve-foot-slx squad." Not among the least of their qualifications is the fact that they look nothing at all like the popular conception of a detective. They look more like young business men from the city, or lawyers, or commercial travelers. If necessary they can look like tight-rope walkers or members of parliament, but they might excite a crook, and certainly they must bear no likeness to a flatty" or flat foot. Imagine the chagrin of a member of the criminal Investigation department who enters a suspected place to do a little observing and la greeted with shouts of "Hello, officer, going to have one?" Easy to Spot In Old Days. Persons evilly disposed who delighted delight-ed in breaking the laws of his majesty's maj-esty's government had an easier time in the qaint old days. It was so easy to recognize a detective, even the new ones. The old familiar faces of course were well known to the underworld and the youngsters modeled their dress and habits after these of the famous crook catchers. So it came to pass that when a new detective started out to detect something he usually found himself detected first. One look at the feet, the hat, and the general attitude toward the more mysterious things In life was enough for the ladles la-dles and gentlemen of the lower strata. The young copper, might Just as well have carried his identification papers printed in black letters on sandwich boards. Can Mingle With Crooks Now. But the debonair detective of today, to-day, five feet six Inches of well-groomed well-groomed efficiency, can mix with the highest and lowest of rogues and vagabonds without arousing any shades of Sherlock Holmes. No sharp waxed mustache of tho Frankie Froesch period, no majestic mien of the merciless man catcher. The five-foot-six squad can stroll In twos and threes through Piccadilly and be followed fol-lowed bytthe birds of prey for whom they carry special traps in their pockets. pock-ets. Crookery is not what it used to be. So the "flatty" whose pockets formerly form-erly bulged with handcuffs and biscuits bis-cuits for the bloodhounds has passed on. He was a good detective but criminals got to know him too well. |