A DAY WITH THE F.B.I.

[Music] one of the best-known buildings in Washington DC is the Department of Justice spreading over an entire block in the busy heart of the Capitol there are the headquarters of the nation's facts law enforcement agency the Federal Bureau of Investigation today as every day the morning male brings thousands of reports from the FBI's fifty-two field offices located in cities throughout the United States and it's posing one envelope may hold information from a special agent in New Orleans that will help another agents investigation and Machias Maine another may hold the important confession of a communist agent and each day an average of 400 pieces of mail contain evidence for examination by the bureau's famous crime laboratory [Music] matters of high priority are handled by the FBI's own radio system or by telephone Avast teletype network tweets the Washington headquarters with field officers from Boston to San Diego Seattle to Miami in addition to the enforcement of a score of federal laws the FBI has been directed by the President to maintain the internal security of the United States the bureau's work is made easier by the wholehearted cooperation of the American public in complying with the president's request to report to the FBI knowledge of subversive activities the loyal and alert citizen may help to protect the innocent as well as to reveal the guilty invaluable to the work of the FBI our files containing nearly 120 million sets of fingerprints Prince voluntarily submitted by loyal law-abiding citizens are kept on the non-criminal file the FBI is first effect finding agencies and second a service agency the facilities of the identification section and the crime laboratories are available to all law enforcement agencies at its Washington headquarters the bureau maintains the most modern and completely equipped crime detection laboratory in the world [Music] here no piece of evidence is too small for analysis nothing so seemingly commonplace that it is not put through the most exacting scientific examination the discovery of one small new detail will often pack a baffling case whether evidence and criminal cases comes from the detective bureau of a large city or from the sheriff of a remote county it is examined monthly carefully and with but one purpose the Swift detection and arrest of the criminal documents of criminals and subversive agents may frequently be traced to their source by comparison with handwriting oh laboratory specimens from nearly every known make up typewriter if the results of these tests do not produce convincing evidence the solution of the case may turn on a second fact whether or not the suspect ever had in his possession paper of exactly the same weight and thickness as that of the questioned document [Music] even such meager evidence as a fiber from a strand of rope may lead investigators to the factory to the hardware store where the rope was sold and finally to the buyer [Music] the FBI expert can determine the make of a shoe and frequently depending on the way the shoe is worn such facts as the occupation of the wearer [Music] no method is more helpful in establishing innocence or guilt than chemical and spectrographic analysis the presence of particles of dust on a suspect clothes that are identical to dust found at the scene of a crime may support charges against him today scientific methods adduce evidence to convict criminals who a few years ago would have gone free but bringing criminals to justice depends in the final analysis upon the ability and integrity of the law enforcement officer himself to qualify as a special agent of the FBI the candidate must be a college graduate in law or accounting he must meet rigid physical requirements and have a character that is above reproach from previous instruction you gentlemen are aware of the civil rights of the individual citizen they're special agents of the FBI you will be obligated to enforce the laws respecting those rights it will be your responsibility to make civil rights a reality within the realm of federal authority strong sound bodies and a working knowledge of Judo are necessary to meet the emergencies which often confront the g-man [Music] every agents must be prepared and qualified to outshoot the most desperate criminal [Music] not only does each new Special Agent undergo months of intensive training at the FBI Academy but as long as he remains on the service he must return for retraining every 18 months because the Federal Bureau of Investigation is called upon to solve almost every type of crime the special agents must be as qualified to investigate a homicide as to track down kidnappers and enemy agents [Music] upon the shoulders of John edgar Hoover director of the FBI since 1924 breasts heavy responsibilities not only must he direct the bureau's offensive against subversive agents but he must also wage a relentless war against the common criminals who as much as any saboteur undermine the security of the nation besides its many investigative functions the FBI serves as a clearinghouse for US crime statistics every 18 seconds a serious crime is committed by someone somewhere in the United States on an average there is an act of homicide every 45 minutes [Music] every minute and a half there is a burglary every 31 seconds someone commits an act of larceny and reflecting the prevalence of lawlessness among the young two-thirds of those arrested in their teens and early twenties our first offenders a day with the FBI seized special agents and employees assigned to more than a hundred thousand investigative matters in a city in the northwest a payroll messenger from a department store withdraws the weekly payroll from a nearby Bank [Music] no eyewitness could positively identify the holdup man but police held several suspects answering the general description [Music] to the FBI laboratory in Washington police airmailed all available evidence with a request that it be given immediate examination in the struggle the messenger had torn hairs and flesh from the scalp of his assailant strands of hair from each suspect were also mailed to Washington on the victim's coat was a blood-stained police were not sure whether it came from the victim or the assailant in the serology section technicians start immediately to study the bloodstains acute ination tests show two different types of blood type O and Type B since the messenger is known to have type O blood the FBI notifies police that the criminal is Type feed this information clears all but two suspects in the hair and fibers section of the FBI laboratory other tests are being made [Music] comparisons show that the strand of hair from the assailants scalp is exactly the same as the hair of one suspect being held by police [Music] and fronted with the FBI laboratory reports type B blood and identical hair that criminal quickly confessed in a southern city after an 11-year old girl is killed in a hit and run accident the police gather significant evidence [Music] the impacts of the car hitting the victim had loosened mud-caked hundl defender when questioned by police one suspect gives a plausible alibi he has not been anywhere near the scene of the accident but in the FBI laboratory the prompt and careful collection of evidence begins to tell another story after repeated comparison police are notified that the soil picked up at the spot where the girl was hit as almost the same mineral content as samples taken from the suspects car when the victim was struck surface paint from the fender was smeared on her dress [Music] comparison shows the paint to be identical to that used by the manufacturer of the suspect sedan [Music] a spectrographic comparison with a chip of paint taken by police from the suspect car provides even more convincing evidence [Music] the suspect is arrested by the local police and charged with manslaughter confronted with the FBI laboratory reports the defendant finally admits his guilt a synthesis of many cases demonstrating the cooperation between local police and the FBI comes from the Seacoast region of New Hampshire near Portsmouth New Hampshire a group of bank robbers kidnap with teller for a hostage [Music] squads of FBI agents comb the countryside for any stray bits of information that may help from imitation a farmer who had seen some men around an abandoned Shack gives the g-men their first sleep the entire area is carefully searched for evidence [Music] on a barbed wire fence 500 yards from the shack agents find a piece of cloth torn from what could be a woman's dress or a man's necktie this along with other evidence is sent to the Washington laboratory [Music] the imprint of the tire markings gives some information the automobile that had been at the shack was a 1950 model of medium to heavy weight [Music] all over the country FBI men visit textile mills looking for the manufacturer of the distinctive fabric in both Massachusetts and North Carolina agents find factories whose looms produce the identical pattern at each mill the manufacturers supply the names of wholesalers and jobbers who had purchased the finished plot [Music] in Washington the FBI laboratory is able to report that the cloth in question came from the Massachusetts Mills [Music] because the largest purchaser of the pattern had been a Boston necktie manufacturer FBI agents visit retail outlets throughout New England [Music] this painstaking and thorough investigation eventually pays off a clerk recalls the customer who recently purchased a large number of ties one was a duplicate of the pattern shown photographs of known bank robbers the clerk identifies his customers with this new and valuable information the FBI locates a man answering the description of their suspect living quietly in an apartment house in Portland Maine but breads on his auto tires match the tire prints found near the shack [Music] before positive identification can be made agents must confront the suspects [Music] so that he will have no opportunity to warn his confederates the agents proceed cautiously in the apprehension of a dangerous criminal the FBI special agent may encounter situations beyond his training or experience he must then rely upon his courage and resourcefulness [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] it was in this manner that the FBI have pretended Seybold fullsome alias Frank Hampton he and his confederates are now serving long terms in a federal penitentiary [Music] the American people can well be proud of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and every citizen can profit by director Hoover's repeated warning says director Hoover we cherish our American institutions and our heritage of freedom but today our way of life is under attack by two dangerous enemies the criminal hordes who live by violence and lawlessness and the subversive horn who seek to destroy all that is free and all that is sacred [Music]