A Day With The FBI (1951)

[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 capital, here are the headquarters of the nation's cracked law enforcement agency, the Federal Bureau of [Music] Investigation. Today, as every day, the Morning Mail brings thousands of reports from the FBI's 52 field offices located in cities throughout the United States and its possessions. [Music] One envelope may hold information from a special agent in New Orleans that will help another agent's investigation in 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. A vast teletype network links the Washington headquarters with field offices 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 are files containing nearly 120 million sets of fingerprints. Prints voluntarily submitted by loyal law-abiding citizens are kept in the noncriminal file. The FBI is first a factf finding agency 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 [Music] world. 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 crack 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 promptly, 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. All laboratory specimens from nearly every known makeup 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. 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. 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 [Music] wearer. No method is more helpful in establishing innocence or guilt than chemical and spectrographic analysis. The presence of particles of dust on a suspect's clothes that are identical to dust found at the scene of a crime may support charges against him. Today, scientific methods aduce 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. As 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 a Gman. [Music] Every agent 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 in the service, he must return for retraining every 18 months. [Music] 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 [Music] agents. Upon the shoulders of John Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI since 1924, rest 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 sabotur undermine the security of the nation. Besides its many investigative functions, the FBI serves as a clearing house 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 [Music] minutes. Every minute and a half there is a burglary. Every 31 seconds, someone commits an act of larseny. And reflecting the prevalence of lawlessness among the young, twothirds of those arrested in their teens and early 20s are first offenders. A day with the FBI sees special agents and employees assigned to more than a 100,000 investigative matters. In a city in the northwest, a payroll messenger from a department store withdraws the weekly payroll from a nearby bank. [Music] [Music] No eyewitness could positively identify the holdup man, but police held several suspects answering the general description to the FBI laboratory in Washington. Police airmailed all available evidence with the request that it be given immediate examination. In the struggle, the messenger had torn hairs and flesh from the scalp of his asalent. Strands of hair from each suspect were also mailed to Washington. On the victim's coat was a blood stain. Police were not sure whether it came from the victim or the asalent. In the cirology section, technicians start immediately to study the blood stains. A glutination 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 B. This information clears all but two suspects in the hair and fibers section of the FBI laboratory. Other tests are being [Music] made. Comparisons show that the strand of hair from the asalent's scalp is exactly the same as the hair of one suspect being held by police. [Music] Confronted with the FBI laboratory reports, type B blood and identical hair, the criminal quickly confessed. [Music] In a southern city, after an 11-year-old girl is killed in a hit-and-run accident, the police gather significant evidence. The impact of the car hitting the victim had loosened mud caked under the fender. 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 [Music] story. After repeated comparisons, police are notified that the soil picked up at the spot where the girl was hit has almost the same mineral content as samples taken from the suspect's car. [Music] When the victim was struck, surface paint from the fender was smeared on her dress. 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's 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 Sea Coast region of New Hampshire. Near Portsouth, New Hampshire, a group of bank robbers kidnap a teller for a hostage. Squads of FBI agents comb the countryside for any stray bits of information that may help them in the case. A farmer who had seen some men around an abandoned shack gives the Gmen their first lead. The entire area is carefully searched for evidence. [Music] On a barbed wire fence 500 yardds from the shack, agents find a piece of cloth torn from what could be a woman's dress or a man's neck tie. This, along with other evidence, is sent to the Washington [Music] Laboratory. 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 [Music] weight. 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 cloth. In Washington, the FBI laboratory is able to report that the cloth in question came from the Massachusetts [Music] mill. Because the largest purchaser of the pattern had been a Boston necktie manufacturer, FBI agents visit retail outlets throughout New [Music] England. This painstaking and thorough investigation eventually pays off. A clerk recalls a 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 [Music] customer. 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. The treads on his auto tires match the tire prints found near the shack. [Music] Before positive identification can be made, agents must confront the suspect. 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] It was in this manner that The FBI apprehended Seabolt Folsam, alias Frank Hampton. He and his confederates are now serving long terms in a federal [Music] penitentiary. The American people can well be proud of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and every citizen can profit by Director Hoover's repeated warnings, 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 hordes, who seek to destroy all that is free and all that is sacred.