Whitechapel

• Working of Met police:

  -set up in 1829 to be a control area and central hub of policing

  -main roles included catching criminals and walking the beat to monitor areas
• Quality of police recruits:

  - wanted them to be able to read and write (standard raised) filled out applications

  -5,700 men in force, many of which would have been heavily drilled in the military style
• Role of the 'beat' constable:

  -would have to walk in specific area and patrol to see if any crime was being committed

  -expected to meet at specific areas at end of beat to meet with sergeant to communicate, other than that no other support
• Development of CID:


  - opened in 1877 and was used as plain clothes organisation

  -Edward Vincent began to increase the pay of the detectives to attract the best constables
• Role of Home Secretary


  -home secretary controlled the police, and ordered everything which they did

  -aim was to work with commissioners (Charles Warren) but many did not get along after the increase of scandals and pressure from ripper murders
• Role of Charles Warren

  -1886, Charles Warren became the commissioner of |Met after being in army

  -put a heavy focus on army drills which worried people into thinking police was becoming army
• Public attitudes towards police

  -large amount of scandals lead to lack of trust between police and public (international gambling)

  -plain clothed police thought to be spying on ordinary peoples lives and they felt they had a lack of privacy
• Problems of housing and overcrowding

  - Flower and Dean Street, 902 lodgers in 31 doss houses

  -became incredibly known for crime and prostitution due to many people not affording the beds
• Attempts to improve housing

  -1881 Peabody Estate built 287 flats with brick and functioning utilities

  -Where expensive so money poor families could not afford causing more overcrowding
• Whitechapel workhouses


  -families separate as they entered, parents could only see children once a day

  -taxes funded workhouse union, which made them be strict to prevent people who did not them staying on
• Unemployment


  - low job security, some people would be employed for a day and then be fired

  -poorest labourers had to fight for their jobs, standing outside of the docks for employment (6- 12 shillings a week)
• Links between environment and crime

  -criminal underclass (residuum) idea of biologically being a criminal

  -people held protests and riots due to the poor living conditions, these resulted in large uproar and bad treatment
• Prevalence of lodging houses

  -large amount of lodging houses lead to a fear of crime being committed

  -during ripper murders, people were wanting these places to be shut down and be heavily monitored
• Immigrants and tendency to segregate


  - Russian Jews arrived in 1801, and found difficult to integrate due to language barriers

  -people thought immigrants were taking jobs as many Irish immigrants were dominating the dock working industry
• Growth of socialism and anarchism


  - immigrants brought ideas of socialism and fenian (Irish nationalism)

  -began to have assassination attempts and bomb threats, increasing fear in politicians
• Difficulties in policing slum areas

  -505 policemen to cover the whole of Whitechapel under the H division (1 policeman for every 300 people)

  -made of allies and small streets, criminals would understand how to use them but police did not
• Problems caused by alcohol

  -alcohol was used as coping method, with gin being used as therapy

  -increased likely hood of becoming victims, due to being inhibited
• Problems caused by prostitution

  -many women had to do it survive, pay for places in dosshouses etc

  -made people victims of crime and vulnerable especially on top of the alcohol use
• Problem caused by gangs and violence

  -threatened Jewish businesses with protection rackets as they were already scarfed of police

  -illegal fights and pubs opened and ran rampant due to organised crime
• Problems cause by attacks on Jews

  -normally attacks and robbery's on Jewish people and business

  -protection rackets put on Jewish business by organised crime gangs
• The Whitechapel Vigilance Committee


  - set up of George Lusk a builder who thought not a lot was being done (wanted to catch Jack The Ripper

  -gave out rewards and used own detectives to try and solve case which ended up leaving police with more chaos
• Developments in techniques of detectives

  - increased use of photography and sketches allowed victims and crime scenes to be reported

  -autopsy began to be used more often, could be used to find time of death etc
• Problems caused by lack of cooperation between Met and City of London and Scotland Yard


  -division rivalries surfaced between City of London and Met, leading to evidence in the Elizabeth Stride case to be not properly recorded

  -lead to the two departments not working well together
• Dealing with crimes of Jack the Ripper


  - media played a difficult role, idea of sensationalism adding number of victims

  -Whitechapel Vigilance Committee hindered a lot of leads by also interviewing and getting witnesses to change or exaggerate stories