Law and Order in 19th Century London

Law and Order in 19th Century London

The police at this time were certainly not anywhere near as advanced

in their ways of tackling crime as police are nowadays. The main

reasons for this is that they did not yet have the knowledge to

understand the criminal mind, and the closest they got was keeping

photographs of criminals faces thinking that criminal types all had

the same shaped head.

The Metropolitan Police Force had two main areas of expertise; these

were to patrol the streets to keep order and deter any crime and help

with major disturbances such as riots. Their training fell short of

being capable of solving crimes such as murders and did not have the

same technology that is open to police today when solving crimes.

Police were only allowed to use truncheons until the 1940’s when

revolvers were introduced to inspectors. The crime fighting techniques

the force mostly used gained them a reputation for violence, a good

example of this is when in 1868 a baton charge at Bromley resulted in

a seventy eight year old man being trampled to death.

The Metropolitan Police force was not the only police force in London,

up until 1839 a force called The Bow Street Runners was in existence

and their horseback branch then went on to become the Metropolitan

Police Force’s mounted section.

It became very dangerous for policeman in poorer parts of London as

there were frequent attacks on them because the less wealthy people

believed the police were only there to protect those with power and

wealth, and they were the ones who were singled out by the police.

Therefore it was not rare for attacks and murders towards the police

around these areas of London such as the East End.

In 1842 the first detectives were appointed by the Metropolitan Police

Force, this consisted of two inspectors and six sergeants. The

introduction of detectives concerned the public as these policemen in

plain clothes could not be identified; the Home Office was also in the