Glueck Attributes Crimes to Police System of Beats

Habits of local police forces may be one of the main reasons for the host of crimes so easily committed in New England in recent years, Sheldon Glueck, Roscoe Pound Professor of Law, said yesterday.

Commenting on Tuesday's $600,000 haul from an unguarded armored car in Danvers, Glueck said that it showed the same "clever, persistent checking on police habit and routine" that has been displayed in other recent robberies.

He explained that criminals can easily take advantage of the police habit to plan their crimes. He pointed out that it is very probable that most police patrol routes in this area have not been changed for the last 50 years. Not only does this facilitate planning of crimes, but it also results in some under-patrolled zones due to the recent change from residential to business areas.

Glueck stressed the importance of keeping the criminal element guessing by constantly changing patrol schedules and routes.

The Danvers job is the second largest in a series of a dozen New England robberies which have totalled more than $3,000,000 in the last two years. The still unsolved Brink's robbery of January, 1950 ranks at the top, with a loss of $1,500,000.

Glueck refused to comment on the possibility of a link-up between the Danver and Brink robberies, but did admit that both showed the mark of a "master-mind."