hi !!

im doing my coursework plan for jack the ripper (law and order in london in the late 19th century)and im stuck on this question-
how were the metropolitan police force organised in london in the lated 19th century?
please could you help me, with any ideas or stuff i should mention!!

thanx for your time!

miss_spicey65

Hi,

I don't teach this topic myself so I am no expert but this is whatI found on the Metropolitan Police website http://www.met.police.uk/history/records.htm:

Organisation
The Metropolitan Police Act 1829 defined the original Metropolitan Police District as an area of about seven miles radius from Charing Cross. Within the next year seventeen police divisions were set up and centred on the following areas:

A - Westminster; B - Chelsea; C - Mayfair and Soho; D - Marylebone; E - Holborn; F - Kensington; G - Kings Cross; H - Stepney; K - West Ham; L - Lambeth; M - Southwark; N - Islington; P - Peckham; R - Greenwich; S - Hampstead; T - Hammersmith and V - Wandsworth.

In 1865 three more divisions were created: W - Clapham; X - Willesden and Y - Holloway, and J Division (Bethnal Green) was added in 1886. Maps of the districts and their changing boundaries can be found under the reference MEPO 15.

The Bow Street Horse Patrol was incorporated into the force in 1836 and operated in the outlying Metropolitan divisions. The second Metropolitan Police Act 1839 converted the River Thames force into the Thames Division, absorbed the Bow Street Foot Patrol and extended the Metropolitan Police District to a fifteen mile radius.

The establishment of the Metropolitan Police also had responsibility for the police of the Royal Dockyards and military stations, Portsmouth, Chatham, Devonport, Pembroke and Woolwich from 1860 until 1934 and Rosyth in Scotland from 1914 until 1926; information about dockyard police prior to 1860 might be found in the civil pensions for artificers and labourers (ADM 23).

Attempts to incorporate the City of London police into the force were unsuccessful and it has always retained its independence (see Other Forces).

Each division was in charge of a superintendent, under whom were four inspectors and sixteen sergeants. The regulations demanded that recruits should be under thirty-five, well built, at least five feet seven in height, literate and of good character. The minimum age is usually considered to be twenty years but the certificates of service (MEPO 4/361-477) include recruits as young as eighteen; service before the age of twenty was not considered for pension purposes.

I hope this will help a bit. There are other teachers who help answer questions here and who teach the Jack the Ripper Coursework. No doubt they will be able to help more than I can!

There is what seems to be an interesting page about the Jack the Ripper murders on the Metropolitan Police site but it doesn't answer your question, I'm afraid. You might find it generally helpful though.
Good Luck with the cousework

Mrs Faithorn has given you a good start:

As a teacher who also sets this coursework for students may I point out that if you consider the police force during the late nineteenth century you must not only describe the actual role and functions of the police, but you need to examine the reputation of the police force within London society.

The police presence in London became more efficient in the late nineteenth century.

1. The most important role of this new police force was to act as a visible sign of the government preventing and solving crimes.

2. After 1850 the Metropolitan Police Force expanded across all of London, it was a common sight to see ‘Bobbies’ patrolling the streets.

3. In 1869, the National Criminal Record was set up to deal with the most notorious criminals. Communications were improved by the telegraph introduced in 1867.

4. In 1877, a Criminal Investigations Department (CID) was set up with 200 detectives and later increased to 800 in 1883.

The Reputation was important though!

1. All of these improvements made the police a more effective method of control in the nation’s capital, but it did not mean that they were more respected or obeyed by London citizens.

2. "Bobbies" were unpopular at first. Contemporary newspapers such as ‘Punch’ printed cartoons of the new police, portraying them as ‘blind and bumbling’ idiots.

3. Many policemen were alcoholics who could not find employment elsewhere.

4. People saw late nineteenth century constables as an infringement on their social and political life and often jeered the police.

5. Poor people believed that they were only there to protect the rich, and gave them nicknames such as ‘crushers’, ‘blue locusts’, and ‘blue drones’.

6. Detectives were seen as being violent and too keen to use their police truncheons.

7. The ‘Bobbie’s’ image changed at the end of the nineteenth century as crime in London decreased – although this was less to do with policemen catching criminals and more to do with criminals leaving London for less policed areas.


These websites may be of use to you as well:

Worksheets on London Police

Learning Curve

May I also offer some advice-

<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Make sure that the eventual work that you write is your own and not the copied work of a teacher on this site as this could get you into trouble!</span>

You are obviously quite good at using the net for research as you have got this far already.

Go to this page for links about the Ripper and Crime and Punishment in the 1800s.

If you can tell us why the police were given BLUE uniforms I'll be very impressed.

Presumably to differentiate them from any military organisation, it was very important for public acceptance that they were seen as citizens in uniform providing a service.

hi im 13 and i have just been doing jack the ripper at school! My opinion is that during the time when the ripper was around, the police force had just been invented so it wouldn't have been very organised