one of the best known buildings in washington, dc is the department of justice spreading over an entire block in the heart of the capital. they are the headquarters of the national park law enforcement agency, the federal bureau of investigation. today, as every day the morning mail brings thousands of reports from the fbi is to build offices located in cities throughout the united states and the. one envelope may hold information from a special agent in new orleans that will help another agency investigation and a man, 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 laboratory. matters of high priority are handled by the fbi own radio system or by telephone no one home office, a teletype network links to the washington headquarters with field offices from boston to san diego or seattle to miami. in addition to the enforcement of a score of federal law, 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 fingerprint. prints voluntarily submitted by loyal, law abiding citizens are kept from an unknown criminal file. the fbi is first to fact finding agency and second serve as agencies. the facilities of the identification and sexual and the crime laboratories are available to all law enforcement agencies. at a washington headquarters, the bureau maintains the most modern and completely equipped crime detection laboratory in the world. here, no piece of evidence is too small for analysis. nothing so seemingly commonplace that it is not for the most exacting scientific examination. the discovery of one small new detail will often occur. baffling cases whether evidence

in criminal cases comes from a detective bureau of a large city or from sheriff of a remote county. it is examined carefully and with one purpose the swift detection and arrest of the criminal docket of criminals and subversive agents may frequently be traced to their source comparison with handwriting or laboratory specimens from nearly every known make up typewriter. if the results of 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 of exactly the same weight on as that of the question 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 what to make of a shoe, and frequently, depending on the way, the shoe has worn such facts the population of the wearer. no method is more helpful in establishing innocence or guilt than chemical and spectrograph analysis. the of particles of dust on a suspect clothes that are identical to dust at the scene of a crime may. support charges against him today, scientific methods adduce evidence convict criminals who a few years ago would have gone free by bringing criminals to justice depends on a 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 requirements and have a character that is above reproach. from previous instruction. you gentlemen are aware of the civil rights of the individual citizens have special agents of the fbi. you will be obligated to the laws respecting rights. it will be your responsible to make the civil rights a reality within the realm of federal authority authority strong. what is under knowledge of judo are necessary to meet the emergencies which often confront man. and.

every agent must be prepared and qualified to out promote desperate criminal. not only does each new special agent undergo months 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. so special agent must be as qualified, investigate a homicide as to track down kidnapers and enemy agents. upon the shoulders of john edgar hoover, director of fbi.

since 1924, have a responsibility not only must be directed, the bureau's offensive against subversive, but it must also wage a relentless war against the common criminals who, as much as any saboteur, undermine the security of the nation nation without that many investigative functions, the fbi serves as a clearinghouse. us crime statistics. every 18 seconds of serious crime is committed by someone somewhere in the united states. on an average there is an act of homicide every 45 minutes. every minute and a half, there is a burglary. every 31 seconds, someone an act

of larceny and reflecting the prevalence of lawlessness among the young two thirds of those arrested in 19 generally, countries first offenders. a day where the fbi is special agents and employees assigned to more than 100,000 investigative matters in a civil the northwest payroll messenger from a department store withdraws the payroll from a nearby bank. no eyewitness could positively

identify the holdup man, but police held several suspects answering my general description. to the fbi laboratory. washington police airmail all available evidence request that it be given immediate examination in the struggle. the messenger had torn hairs and flesh on the scalp of his assailant, strands of hair from. each suspect were also mailed to washington. on the victim's coat was a bloodstain. the police were not sure whether it came from a victim or the assailant. in the surrounding section, technicians start immediately to study the bloodstain. i brought an item to show two different types of blood type old and type b. since the messenger is known to

have type o blood, the fbi notifies police that the criminal is type b less information cleared. all but two suspects in the hair and fiber section of the fbi laboratory. other tests are being made. comparisons on the show that a strand of hair from the scalp is exactly the same as the hair of one suspect being held by police. confronted with the fbi laboratory report ap blood and identical hair, the criminal quickly confessed.

innocence a day after an 11 year old girl was killed in a hit and run accident. the police significant evidence. the impact of the car hitting the victim had loosened the mud caked under the fender. when questioned by police, one suspect gives a plausible alibi. he has not been anywhere near scene of the accident. but in the fbi laboratory, the prompt and careful of evidence begins to tell another story. after comparison, the police are not surprised that the soil picked up at the spot where the girl was hit as almost the same mineral content as samples taken from a suspect car.

not surface paint from a fender was smeared on her dress. comparison shows paint to be identical to that used by the manufacturer of the suspect for that. spectral graphic comparison with a type of paint taken by police from a suspect's car provides, even more convincing evidence.

i suspect, was arrested by the local police and charged with manslaughter, confronted with the fbi laboratory report, the defendant finally admits guilt. i sentences of many cases demonstrating the cooperate between the local police and the fbi comes from the seacoast region of new hampshire, near portsmouth new hampshire, a group of bank robbers kidnap a teller or a hostage. squads of fbi agents combing the countryside for any stray bits of information that may help them in the case. a farmer who had seen four men around an abandoned shack gives birth to him and their first name, the entire area is carefully searched for evidence.

on a barbed wire fence hundred yards from track agents find a piece of cloth drawn from what could be a woman's dress or a man's necktie it along with other evidence, is sent to the washington laboratory. the imprint of the tire markings gives some information. the automobile that had been at the shack, a 1950 model of medium to heavy weight. all over the country. fbi members attacked normal looking for the manufacture of a distinctive fabric in both massachusetts and north carolina agents find factories with loans produce the identical pattern. at each mill.

the manufacturers supply the names, wholesalers and jobbers who had purchased finished product. in washington. the fbi laboratory is able to report that the crop in question came from the massachusetts mill. because the largest purchaser of the pattern been a boston necktie manufactured fbi agents visit retail outlets throughout new england. this painstaking, thorough investigation eventually pays off a recall. the customer, who recently purchased a large number of ties. one was a duplicate of a pattern shown photographs of nonbank robbers. the third identifies a customer.

with this new and valuable information. the fbi locates a man answering description of their suspect live quietly in an apartment house in portland, maine. a man's on his auto tires match the tire prints found near the shack. before a positive can be made. agents confront the suspect. in a. 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 uncomfortable situations beyond his training or experience. he must then rely upon his courage and resourcefulness

resourcefulness. it was in this manner that fbi apprehended balsam alias frank hampton. he and his confederates are serving long terms in a federal penitentiary in. the american people can well be

proud of the bureau of investigation, and every citizen can profit by director hoover's repeated warnings. so 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 hold who seek to destroy all us free and all that is sacred.