I**"* \ lit lIP 22MEL. m&m . ii fej^^Ss : ‘'
CRIME does not pay. Take the protit
out of it and the heroics, the sense
of adventure, the sense of superiority
which flaming headlines give to the
criminal, strip it to its sordid bareness,
and its solution to a-considerable ex
tent, is in sight. After all, there is noth
ing very glamorous about handcuffs,
prison bars, long penitentiary sen
tences, or capital punishment. The
penalties when imposed, make the
criminal look like a sap.
In place of the old-time, bruiser
type criminal the modem enemy of
society employs finesse and as a class,
loves to appear as a gentleman of keen
brain and wit. Arrayed against him are
other men equally keen, devoted to law
enforcement. Many of them have been
trained in the laboratory for their life
work of crime suppression and the ap
prehension of the criminal. More and
more these men are employing modern
inventions in their work photog
raphy, microscopy, ballistics, X-ray,
chemistry, finger printing, psychology,
medicine, keen preception, and a
knowledge of the law.
Realizing all this, it was particularly
interesting when one of our party said
-We’re going over to Elizabeth. N. J.,
to meet a member of the police force —
a man who is doing unusual police
work in his laboratory.”
Instinctively, we pictured this man
as big, husky, and firm of jaw, wres
tling with a variety of problems that
would be almost certain to arise in
that densely populated metropolitan
area.
Pulling up before a comforable home
we were met at the door by a cultured
gentleman with a charming voice and
the manner and face of an artist, who
ushered us upstairs to a laboratory and
office.
XXX
SERGEANT Gustave Rudolph Stef
fens, we were soon to learn is
skilled as a law enforcement officer
and really is an artist, having spent
several years in the study of music.
In his laboratory he wrestles with a
variety of problems, but the rest of our
picture of him was all wrong. Here is
a crime fighter who employs finesse
and science.
For six years Mr. Steffens studied
music and harmony, plays the cornet,
and is wonderfully well informed on
bands and band music. This is an avo
cation —a source of relaxation. The
rest of the time he is active as an ex
ponent of the new order in crime de
tection, unravelling mysteries in his
laboratory and filing jway a surprising
lot of information in those record
cases of his d6wn at headquarters
Born in Germany in 1887, he came
to New York City when a boy of 16.
got a job in a grocery store in Brook
lyn and was a grocer's helper for a
number of years until the longing to
see the old home finally got the better
of him. So, one day he set sail for a
visit to Germany and remained to
serve two years in the army before
coming back to the United States,
where he again worked in the grocery
store and gave more of his spare time
to the study of his beloved music. He
was bound to do this, for a mind like
his must reach out and beyond the
narrow, routine bounderies of canned
goods and fresh vegetables in order to
be satisfied.
Qstef j
Being of a studious nature, and yet
obliged to work, Mr. Steffens enrolled
for a commercial c?u- e ided by
a correspondence school in Scranton,
Pennsylvania, which makes it possible
for ambitious men and women to con
tinue with their work and to study in
their spare time. “From that course,”
he says. “I really learned English.”
Was there ever a time when he didn't
know the language, we wondered, for
he speaks with a nicety that should
shame most of us who are native born.
In 1918 Mr. Steffens became a mem
ber of the police force of the City of
Elizabeth. Early in his work on the
force he realized the importance of a
knowledge of law, so again he enrolled
for a course in commercial law, got
his second diploma—and kept right on
studying more and more of the law
that applies to crime and police work;
kept on until his library, today, might
easily be mistaken at first glance, as
that of a successful lawyer. He studied
law, did Sergeant Steffens, so that
finally he was able to write on the
subject with such authority that his
contribution on “Law a Police Otticer
Should Know” is part of a well known
manual that is widely distributed and
is highly regarded by thousands of
police officers the nation over.
That’s about enough tor one man to
know, you might think. But no. Of
ficer Steffens haij other ideas, and a
third time he turned to school for
training in chemistry. That inquiring
mind of his is forever reaching out for
more facts, more information. It’s only
stolid minds that stagnate; lazy minds
that lapse into idleness. His diploma
in chemistry also hangs on the wall
of his office, right next to the door into
the laboratory
XXX
THIS is the background of the man
who with several outstanding citi
zens of the State, established, in 1933,
the Crime Detection Laboratory of
New Jersey —a corporation not for
profit, numbering among its officers
and staff members, doctors, a judge,
and many professional . en. The work
is organized with competent men in
charge of branches covering chemis
txy, toxicology, medicine, microscopy,
ballistics, ultra-violet rays and X-rays,
photography, automobile identifica
tion, locks and safes, questioned docu
ments, finger prints and identification,
mmerology and geology, criminal law
and procedure. Sergeant Gustave Stef
fens is President.
On the bench in his laboratory to- •
day, on almost any day, you will find
envelopes and other containers with
specimens for analysis. Each presents
its own intriguing problem. Each finds
its way to his test tubes and powerful
microscopes where the solution is
sought with meticulous care, for his
findings will go far toward convicting
the guilty or freeing the innocent.
Note the italics. We emphasize this
because Mr. Steffens holds that a crime
laboratory can serve quite as effec
tively in protecting the innocent as in
convicting the transgressor.
IS’NT it true that you got your
knowledge of chemistry from a
correspondence school?’ a lawyer for
the defense inquired recently when Mr.
Steffens was on the witness stand for
the prosecution.
“Yes, sir,” was the reply.
“What school?”
“International Correspondence
Schools.” .
“I object to this testimony Your
Honor.” This from the attorney.
“Objection overruled,” His Honor
replied. “I don’t see that it matters
where the learning was secured, so long
as a man knows it and has practiced
so successfully as Mr. Steffens has.
And so. Sergeant Steffens and his
I.C.S. training not only won the point,
but won the commendation of the
court as well. Upheld in court! There s
always satisfaction in that.
In his department is a very unique
equipment makn 1
tramgrenor H W
and accurate single-finger-print system
of recording.
Dealing with pfoblems of such in
terest, seeing daily evidence of the
vast possibilities in chemistry, is it any
wonder that both Mr. Steffens’ sons
are going in for chemistry too? He is
educating his family, living comfor
tably, and having a good time doing
his daily work.
“Wish ygp’d analyze this. Seigeant,”
one of the detectives remarked one
day, handing Mr. Steffens a bottle in
which there remained a small amount
of a well known soft drink. "This
man was on night duty and claimed
he was held up and robbed, some
how his st*ry sounds fishy to me.”
In the laboratory Steffens identified
a heavy dose of a common drug m the
contents of the bottle. On calling a
member of the staff of the Crime De
tection Laboratory, he was told that
the mixture would induce heavy sleep.
“Yon were asleep and when you
i/ a
awoke your friend had departed to
gether with all the cash, so you weren't
held pp at the point of a gun at all.
were you?”
“I guess that’s the way it happened,"
the youth replied. So another crime
was a step nearer soluti an. and the
laboratory had won another victory.
Out of this laboratory come dozens
of incidents like this.
“Wood alcohol,” Mr. Steffens re
marked, pointing to a test tube on the
bench. “Enough to keep a car from
freezing all winter. No mystery about
it. Just drank wood alcohol, that's all.
poor fellows. Dead? Oh yes, of
course."
“Finger prints?" Why, m Sergeant
Steffens’ office is an instrument that
will enlarge them to the size of a map
of Texas, and so arranged that com
parisons axe made so clearly and
minutely that even a novice like this
writer can understand ho*, positive
identification is made.
Crime does not pay. Sergeant Gus
tave Rudolph Steffens is one of the
modern authorities who is taking the
profit out of it with his science and his
laboratory.