Produced by Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) SCOTLAND YARD. _Copyright in the United States of America, 1915._ SCOTLAND YARD THE METHODS AND ORGANISATION OF THE METROPOLITAN POLICE. BY GEORGE DILNOT. [Illustration: Logo] LONDON: PERCIVAL MARSHALL & CO., 66, FARRINGDON STREET, E.C. CONTENTS. PAGE CHAPTER I. THE SILENT MACHINE 9 CHAPTER II. MATTERS OF ORGANISATION 16 CHAPTER III. THE REAL DETECTIVE 22 CHAPTER IV. ON THE TRAIL 32 CHAPTER V. MAKING A DETECTIVE 41 CHAPTER VI. MORE ABOUT INVESTIGATION 48 CHAPTER VII. THE "CROOKS'" CLEARING-HOUSE 54 CHAPTER VIII. FINGER-PRINTS 65 CHAPTER IX. THE SCHOOL OF POLICE 76 CHAPTER X. IN A POLICE STATION 87 CHAPTER XI. THE RIDDLE DEPARTMENT 98 CHAPTER XII. THE SAILOR POLICE 109 CHAPTER XIII. THE BLACK MUSEUM 118 CHAPTER XIV. PUBLIC CARRIAGES 123 CHAPTER XV. LOST, STOLEN, OR STRAYED 132 PREFACE. TO ROBERT. MY DEAR ROBERT, It is more than probable that since this book was written you have changed your uniform and your beat. You are in the North Sea, in Flanders, in Gallipoli. Nowhere can admiral or general wish a better man. I have known you long. I have for many years been thrown among you in all circumstances, and at all times. I have known you trudging your beat, have known you more especially as a detective, have known you in high administrative and executive positions. I have seen you arrest armed murderers, have seen you tactfully reproving a drunkard, have seen you solving tangled problems of crime, have seen you charging a mob, have seen you playing with a lost baby. I do not think there is any phase of your work which I have not seen. And I want the public to know you. You, whether you be Commissioner or constable, occupy a position of delicate and peculiar responsibility. You are poised between the trust and suspicion of those you serve, and you are never quite sure whether you will be blessed or blamed. I, who realise something of your temptations and your qualities, know how seldom you fail in an emergency, how rarely you abuse your powers. You will forgive me when I say you are not perfect. You have your little failings, and at times the defect of one man recoils on 20,000. There are matters I should like to see changed. But, on the whole, you are admittedly still the best policeman in the world. The war has claimed you and others of your profession. Astute commanding officers have recognised you as "men who are handled and made," and many a constable of a year ago now wears an officer's stars. There are those of you who have gained other distinctions.