MALAGASY NATIONAL POLICE

2. In 1942 the system became inadequate to handle the increasing
volume of individuals to be identified. French Police Commissioner
Minjoz then installed a new fingerprint system of identification based
on the Vucetich method of classification. This system which can be
found in many countries that are within the primary area of influence of
the French is, very briefly, based on a classification of the basic fin­
gerprint patterns without resotting to ridge tracing or ridge counting.
The system is presently in use and is entirely adequate for a population
several times that of Madagascar.
3. On 19 October 1961 Chief Police OfMiter E. Heiby, a French na­
tional, and the assistant'to the Director Gbiital of the National Police,
Mr. Philibert Robinson, took the Public Safety Team on a tour of the
Identification Bureau. Chief Heiby, a highly qualified Identification
and Laboratory Specialist advised that at the resent time there are
over 500,000 civil and criminal fingerprints cards on file. (Civil and
criminal prints are not kept in separate files.) The Identification
Bureau is housed in a wing of the National Police General Headquarters.
The actual file room is approximately 40' x 80', with a 20' ceiling and
library type balcony around the stacks where the fingerprint cards are
filed in wooden boxes on open shelves. The files which are maintained
in a very orderly manner, were found in excellent condition. In addi­
tion to approximately 20 fingerprint classifiers and file clerks, 10
trainees were observed at work. Mr. Heiby advised that these were young
men from the provincial departments being trained for their local bureaus.
4. According to Mr. Heiby, dactyloscopic identification is practiced
in Madagascar on a large scale. It facilitates the effective.control of
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