Jack the Ripper

Essay by malone2003 December 2002

download word file, 14 pages 3.9

Jack the Ripper

Assignment One: The Law and order in London in the Late Nineteenth century

1. Describe law and order in London in the late nineteenth century.

In 1829 Sir Robert Peel, Home Secretary, created a judicatory force named the Metropolitan Police, the organisation that has policed us to the present day. This Metropolitan Police force, known as 'peelers' or 'bobbies' after their founder, replaced the Bow Street Runners, the former Thames River Police Force and the general watchmen and parish constables who had patrolled the streets of many British towns and cities. In this essay I will examine the responsibilities of the police force, the methods of crime control and prevention, the modernisations within the force and the detection and forensic improvements within the force to gain a better understanding of law and order in London in the late nineteenth century...

In this paragraph I will highlight the responsibilities of the police force in London and what they had to contend with.

Police in London had a variety of uses and acted in different ways, some collected tolls from traders while some inspected tramcars and cabs, some officers duties included school attendance monitoring and bridge inspection. They were commonly used as lifeguards or even to enforce the Poor Law. But the commonest and main duties of the MPF were simply to deal with drunkenness, begging, vagrancy and prostitution. These duties were vastly different to others that were proposed or initiated within the nineteenth century like the proposition in 1837 by the Select Committee stating that the whole City of London should be placed under the control of the Metropolitan Police Force. Constables learnt their trade 'on the job', which was by no means an easy task. Hours of duty could be as long as 14 a...