Call to all rogues

Four years after Swiss police started using photographs to identify criminals in 1854, New York police opened a ``Rogues Gallery'' to the public to view society's criminal element.

Oamaru's Rogues Gallery at Totara Estate and the Forrester Gallery has collected about 200 mugshots since the end of October, Forrester Gallery education curator Liz King says.

The slideshow at the gallery, on display now, allows "criminal'' visitors to create their own to add to the collection.

This year's Forrester and Lemon Memorial Lecture, by former North Otago Museum director and current New Zealand Police Museum director Rowan Carroll and entitled "Beware The Girl Next Door!'', will be held at the Oamaru Opera House on Friday.