3 JANUARY 1936, Page 7

The Police and Wireless The police forces throughout the country

are gradually evolving a system of wireless communication which should considerably add to their capacity for the prevention and detection of crime. Experiments are being carried out, on the basis of regional schemes, which aim at establishing wireless contact between a central station and police motor-vehicles in a given area, with direct communication, when necessary, with the wireless department at Scotland Yard. Filmgoers have grown accustomed to the sight of American racketeers being chased at headlong speed by police cars driven by officers directed by a metallic sounding voice conveyed by wireless from head- quarters. Nottingham police have demonstrated that they can keep in touch in this way at a distance of 80 miles, and by the same method an effective cordon can be thrown around a town in a space of minutes. The value of this in the case of such crimes as smash-and-grab raids, is obvious. It will also, incidentally, tend to break down the outgrown barriers between county constabulary areas. With the vastly increased range of action which the criminal enjoys in these days of fast cars it is imperative that all delays due to conflicting jurisdictions be avoided,