Detectives In The Metropolitan Police Force example essay topic

Describe law and order in the late 19th Century London. The police force began in 1749, where the two main police forces were the Bow Street Runners (1749) and the newer Thames River Police force; both forces were situated in London. In 1829, Sir Robert Peel set up the metropolitan Police Force, which still exists now. Before this, most places in Britain had the order kept by watchmen and parish constables. They were local, and so could deal with thefts, and street crime, as they knew local people and knew the area.

They were not however, prepared to solve larger crimes, or deal with riots, which were usually left to the army. This changed however in 1856, when the County and Borough Police Act, after the example by the Metropolitan Police force. Before counties were allowed to decide whether or not they wanted a police force, now it was compulsorily, as inspectors were sent to make sure that each county had complied with this act. Because the police force was run by corporations, the quality and size of the force in boroughs & towns varied. After 5 years, only half of the cities, towns, etc. had set up police forces.

Even the quality of already established police forces, like the Metro. Was not good. They tended to be small, and the pay was not good, in some towns anyone could join, whereas with the metro. There was a restriction on height and age. However, despite this, many people in the metro. Police force were dismissed early because of drunkenness and corruption.

The metropolitan police force was and still is responsible to the home sectary unlike all other police forces in Britain; they were also often backed by the army because of large riots in London. Because of the very active from coursework. info role of the metro. Police force in dealing with street crime and riots, they were very militant, and thusly disliked by the working class and poorer people who had to deal with the metro. Police force's constant violence. They were dress in blue, to mirror the navy who were well-liked by the public. The police were expected to be heroes by people who did not deal with them everyday so the fact they used excessive force, which resulted in death in many circumstances was very bad for the public image, however, because of results of literacy acts, more people could read, and so the working classes' opinion became more well-known.

The metro. Police force were not used to dealing with large crimes, especially a serial one like Jack the Ripper. Their main job was street crime: prostitution was a big problem, as well as street theft and brawls. Because of this they could prevent street crime by knowing who trouble makers were, but other crimes such as burglary rose. There were no detectives in the metropolitan police force until the 1840's. But there was still much opposition from the public and a disdain from the Home Office, as they were to be dressed like the public, and noone would know if they were a detective or not.

It was not until the 1860's that detective work became more organized, before, they had rounded up suspicious looking suspects and followed them, these were tactics of ordinary police men: now there was more use of evidence to solve crimes, and there were new rules such as the body found could not be tampered with and no public interference. The system was not perfect still, in 1877, 3 detectives were found guilty of corruption. Still, in 1884, London had the least amount of detectives compared to other major cities.