3.3: law enforcement

• | crime prevention & catching criminals

  • parish Constable who dealt with disorderly behaviour, petty criminals & beggars
  • watchmen who were organised by parish constables & responsible for protecting private property
  • part-time soldier who were used to dealing with rebellions or riots
• | bow street runners, 1748

  • crime fighting team led by henry
  • believed that ‘thief takers’ should form part of law enforcement but also recognised they needed to be reformed & monitored
  • appointed thief takers as principal officers win became known as bow street runners
  • 6 years later, john took over
  • before they used to charge fees for their services & collected rewards from victims but by 1780 they were paid by government & 1at modern detective force
• | significance of bow street runners

  • Objective was to deter criminals by increasing chances of being caught & persecuted
  • organised regular foot & horse patrols along major roads
  • understood importance of collecting & sharing information about crime & suspects

  the success of the bow street runners led to more detective offices being set up in middlesex
• | development in police forces

  • constables, watchmen & bow street runners we’re not sufficient to deal with law & order but there was strong opposition to the idea of consolidated police force:
  • people worried about personal freedom & privacy
  • doubt if it would really make a difference in law & order
  • too expensive to fund
• | metropolitan act 1829

  • gave London a uniformed police with 140 constables to DETER criminals by having a public presence on the street through BEATS to counter crime & catch criminals
  • peel ensured they were viewed positively so they had blue overcoats & top hats to identify & distinguish them from the army
  • despite peel’s attempts to make the public like them, there was a significant concern that they would be used to prevent political protests or put down oppositions of the government
• | developments in forces, 1829-56

  • improvements outside london were slow as many still relied on the old system of parish constables because
  • public were concerned about costs
  • no co-operation between different areas
  • development was optional rather than enforced by a central government so local governments didn’t bother with reforms
• | developments in forces 1856-1900

  • 1856 police act: all areas needed professional police force that was centrally controlled; all police forces were inspected by government officials & received money if they were efficient
  • established the principle of DETERRENCE through detection of criminals- idea that criminals would be less likely to commit crimes if they knew police officers were actively looking for them
  • 1869, National crime records were set up_ telegraph set up so forces could communicate quickly & share information about crime & suspects
• | crime detection & CID

  • 1842, regular branch with 16 officers to patrol in ‘plain’ clothes
  • accused of being no better than spies
  • 1878, CID set up + 200 detectives who developed new methods of detections
  • tried to identify jack the roller by handwriting & secured conviction of criminals with fingerprint evidence
• when what the CID set up?

  1878