 Hey, Tony, do you think it's OK? Yeah, you're OK. See you later. OK, that's better. A lousy chisel broke. That's OK. I've got enough of a lip to jimmy it. Stand by, Tony. We're coming out. We've got enough here to buy you all the booze you want. That's better. These officers protect themselves, covering both exits without risking death or injury. Then they protect every bit of evidence at the scene of the crime by not touching anything and by keeping curious onlookers away. And they send back immediately a call for assistance and all the information they can find without disturbing the crime scene. Assistance comes quickly. Detectives trained in burglary investigation take over. In a crime without witnesses, the investigator must overlook no physical evidence. Paint chips from the cracked safe are gathered for later comparison analysis. The camera is a basic tool. Investigators must be competent in its use and plan each shot to record as many facts as possible. A trained search for overt or latent prints must never be neglected. Even glove burglars can be careless. Evidence properly preserved by the policemen first on the scene remains intact to be photographed later. Even bits of safe insulation may respond to laboratory analysis if they are properly preserved and marked at the scene. Good investigators carry a kit containing all they need for this purpose and keep it stocked. Homely items like labels, boxes, or envelopes may keep vital evidence identifiable and uncompromised. A patrolman protects the scene of the crime. Evidence not yet collected must be safeguarded. The gathering, preservation, and identification of the physical evidence, the silent witnesses, will continue through the night. With the arrival of the proprietor on the scene, another important phase of the investigation begins, interviews and records. This first interview with the distraught storekeeper provides enough information to complete the offense report, basic record of the crime. There was nothing in the story to point to an identifiable suspect. A return visit by both detectives assigned to the case when the proprietor is less agitated strikes paydirt, thanks to good interview techniques. No, no, I didn't notice anybody unusual. And I sort of look out for anybody who might be casing me for it. No, I was taken to $3,000 a couple years ago to hold up. Was anybody apprehended on that occasion? Oh, yeah, they caught him a couple months later while he was robbing the bank. Now, Mr. Johnson, you stated that $7,000 was taken, 5,000 of which you'd drawn out of the bank that afternoon to cash Friday paychecks. Do you know the denominations? Well, mostly tens and 20s. Oh, yeah, in a packet of new 50s. What's your bank, Mr. Johnson? A citizen national. Oh, yeah. Think this will help? Well, you never can tell. He might just have a record of those serial numbers. Oh, hey, I clear-forgotten. Last time I was robbed, the detective said something about keeping bait money. Here's the numbers of those 5.20s I was keeping at the bottom of the pile. Good. Good, Mr. Johnson. This might be very helpful. Do you have anything else, Bill? Was anything else taken besides the money? Well, yes, but it's not very important. Just three bottles of our best bourbon. Think of a safe cracker with a taste for a 12-year-old whiskey. We will, Mr. Johnson. We will. You said that was preferred. Hi, Don. Hi, Bill. Hey, listen, get this. Four liquor store jobs up in Illinois. All skylight entry, all pry jobs, all front door getaway with tools left behind, and all with some of their best bourbon taken. Sometimes a few bottles, sometimes a case. Great, we've got something to go on. Watch for big bills and good booze, huh? Let's get out the word. The final item is on a liquor store burglary last night. We have the serial numbers on five of the $20 bills. Series 1960D, as in Denver, E3663554C through 58C. We suspect these boys were out-of-state pros, probably from Illinois, and that at least one has a taste for expensive bourbon. That is all fallen for inspection. So good for business, you know. Drinking it up. Another thing. There, what do you want, babe? Three old Norwoods on the rocks, Bill. Doubles. Funny, they pay for every round of a 20. Can I see that, please? Well, what the? You keep out of this, kid. They'll handle it. What's keeping that dame? No, I'll take it easy, Tony. Listen, man, you still jittery about the job last night. Now, why should I be? I got you guys away clean, didn't I? Sure you did, clean as a whistle. You know they did pick us up. There's nothing to tie us in with a job. We'll have the opening statement from the prosecution. May it please your honor. Burglary is defined in this state as the breaking and entering into any building for the purpose of committing a felony. Burglary is usually one of the most secretive of crimes. When, as sometimes happens, it includes crimes against the person other than murder. For example, assault or rape. There may be surviving eyewitnesses, but such is not the case here. Our witnesses will be mostly silent. The exhibits that we will place in evidence that we believe will prove to you that only these defendants could have committed this crime and that they in fact did so. We will place in the witness chair the people who discovered, preserved, and analyzed the physical evidence on which our case is built. Detective Jones and I made a quick examination of the scene of the crime, during which I noticed a footprint in the dust under the skylight through which it appeared entrance had been made. Before attempting to lift the print, I photographed it. I made the usual search for fingerprints. I didn't find any fingerprints other than those identified as the proprietors. And then I gathered up such samples of physical evidence as could be preserved and later analyzed. I placed these in the appropriate containers and identified. The serial numbers of the $520 bills I kept as bait money. Well, like I told the detectives, besides the money, there were three bottles of bourbon missing, like the one on the street in front of my store. I didn't think it was important, but they kept drawing me out to remember everything I could. Right after they were booked, Detective Jones and I got a search warrant for the premises where the defendants lived. There we found the materials just admitted into evidence. One full and one half empty bottle of bourbon, bearing the same tax stamp number as that found broken in front of the liquor store. I went through the clothing in the closets, noting makers or store names, cleaning tags, or other identifying marks. Meanwhile, Detective Jones found under the bed a pair of dark sneakers. The soles were worn, but still had clear tread markings in the rubber. In one, there was a small piece of metal, triangular in shape, deeply embedded. Not to compromise this evidence, I preserved the whole shoe and added it to the other evidence, which we discovered and preserved. Much of it was later sent for analysis to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Laboratory in Washington, DC. Where I am in charge of the tool marked unit, I received certain pieces of evidence from the Metropolitan Police Department. Among them were the tools marked as being found at the scene of the burglary in question. One of these tools, a chisel, had a corner broken off. There was also a rubber sold canvas shoe marked as being found on the premises inhabited by the defendants. Embedded in the rubber sole was a triangular piece of metal. Based on a study of the fractures, I concluded that the small piece of metal from the shoe was originally a portion of and broken from the chisel to the exclusion of all other sources. This was one of several microscopic comparisons I have made of samples marked as evidence and submitted to the FBI laboratory for analysis by the Metropolitan Police Department. I made a microscopic comparison between safe insulation, marked as having come from the safe at the scene of the crime, and material which I found in the clothing of the defendants. I found particles of safe insulation in this material of the same type and composition as the sample of safe insulation marked as coming from the scene of the burglary. Other substances found in the material were chips of paint. I compared them with specimens marked as having been taken from the door of the safe. Microscopic and spectrographic comparison examinations of these paints revealed that they matched in colors, textures, layer structure, and composition. We'll have the closing statement from the prosecution. Your Honor, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the state now concludes its case. We have called many persons to testify, but it is here on this table that the proof of guilt lies. Burglary is a secretive crime, and we have no eyewitnesses. But these inanimate objects discovered, preserved, analyzed by skill police officers and FBI laboratory specialists tell the true story of this crime. It is the story of a well-planned burglary carried out by professionals who made just a few small errors. Those errors and good police work have made it possible for us to build our case. The identifiable $20 bill, the whiskey traced back to the burglarized door, and to the defendant's habits and possession. The rubber sole shoe with its telltale footprint, and even more damning, the corner of the chisel, which was used to crack the safe. The laboratory tests, identifying installation and paint found in the defendant's clothes to be of the identical type as that of the burglarized safe. Each exhibit, and all of them together, established the guilt of these defendants and exclude any others. On the evidence of these silent witnesses, the state asked you to find the defendants guilty of burglary as charged.