Reasons Why the Police were Unable to Catch Jack the Ripper
Catching a serial killer today is no easy job, but more than 100 years
ago it was an even more difficult job. The police then had to face no
forensics, little structure within the forces, people unwilling to
help, and yet they were still expected to find the ripper.
In 1888 there were no forensics, no DNA tests and no fingerprinting.
The area in which the murders occurred was an especially abysmal place
where people often walked round covered in blood due to the slaughter
houses. The technology of the time wouldn’t have been able to
distinguish between human and animal blood. The lack of forensic tests
would also make it difficult to prove conclusively if two or more
crimes had been committed by the same person. These limits were partly
because of the bungling police work.
Normally the police did not investigate cases like this under as much
pressure. They only investigated this case because the rich had become
concerned over the plight of the poor, as did the press. The police
did not always record evidence as well as they could have done. In
comparison with today’s standard procedure, few police reports were
written relevant to the case, and insufficient attention was paid to
forensic details and interviews. What could have been a crucial piece
of evidence (writing near a crime scene next to a piece of bloodied
apron belonging to a victim) was removed before it could be
photographed; and it wasn’t uncommon for other evidence to
mysteriously disappear. The writing on the wall case though was one of
the greatest blunders; without the sole handwriting sample police
could...
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...killer. In the Ripper inquiry, sufficient record keeping,
and information management/co-ordination was practically absent; and
in the Green River Killer case it was too late in coming. In both
investigations, the relationship between the law enforcement agencies
and their relationship with the public was not idyllic. In both
investigations, police also did not have the right knowledge and
resources to accurately measure the situation, grasp its significant
factors, and immediately collect an appropriate reaction. Even if the
Jack the Ripper, and Green River Killer investigations had possessed
the needed means, their investigations could not have lasted the
absence of key people, poor public relations, interagency conflict,
bad judgments, missed opportunities, or the exclusion of women from
highly dangerous police work.
Investigating Why the Police Were Unable to Catch Jack the Ripper I believe the most important reason why Jack the Ripper was so hard to catch was because of the lack of evidence. In those days they did not have as advanced technology as we have today for instance, we have forensics where we can tell from a strand of hair who that hair belongs to. In those days they were only just learning the significance of footprints to catching a villain. Another part to this is that Jack the Ripper was so random towards who he killed the police could not find a link between the murders except that they were all prostitutes, which did not really help, although prostitute murders were not terribly uncommon. The press coverage to the case didn’t help much as they had forced the police to investigate ‘Leather Apron’ and this wasted a significant amount of the police time which, if spent properly, may have allowed them to uncover more information needed to catch the Ripper.
"I am Jack the Ripper, catch me if you can" (Cornwell, 55) has been one of the most haunted lines of history, especially in London's Whitechapel area from August 1888 to November of that same year. Jack the Ripper was the mystery everyone wanted to solve, but not everyone was as determined as Patricia Cornwell. Throughout her series of all her Ripper investigations, she was destined to prove once and for all that Jack the Ripper wasn't just any man, but Walter Richard Sickert himself. In her book Portrait of a Killer Jack the Ripper Case Closed, she discusses and confirms that everyone had known the Ripper all along, just fell for his act. The author wasn't going down without a chance to prove to the world that Walter was the evil serial killer
The duties of a police officer are to ensure that there is maintenance of public peace and order. In order to perform their duties and obligations they require certain powers, authority in order to perform their duties and this extends the power to arrest. This paper focuses on the decision of the court in DPP v Carr, the amendments on Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act (LEPRA) section 99 and a critical evaluation of statements made by Sentas and Cowdery.
...f door-to-door enquires, disguising detectives, laying on extra man power and using coroners and police surgeons for accurate reports. However these methods became a problem, the public’s mistrust and dislike of the force resulted in difficulty in solving crimes. With the lack of experience and scientific knowledge solving crime had a poor success rate, technological and scientific advancement aided with investigations. In addition the Metropolitan Police gradually became an expected presence on the streets.
How the Police Tried to Catch Jack the Ripper In the 1880s, the police were very different from the police of today. Their main propose was crime prevention and their methods their methods were very primitive Source F is a police leaflet, which was published after the murders of Elizabeth Stride and Kate Eddowes; it was written to aid the police in their investigation it was also written in a factual tone, it suggests that the police were appealing for any information regarding suspicious characters. Because of the timing of this leaflet shows the desperation faced by the police but for because of the many defects reasons the leaflet was not successful: The first being that they did not offer any description of the murderer at all, 'person to whom suspicion was attached'. The second being that they still assumed that the person was living in Whitechapel, when there was a large amount of evidence suggested that the murderer wasn't from Whitechapel (the fact that the murders were all done on the weekends or on Friday nights, which suggests that he had a job and came into Whitechapel to murder).
The first appearance of the notion of silence or lack of silence occurs at the first presence of the criminal justice system: the initial meeting with a police officer. During the War on Drugs, it became common for police officers to stop and frisk people, including those without suspicious behavior, in search of drug violations. Although, not against the law, the majority of people do not know that they have the option of declining such a search and refuse to answer any questions. Professor Tracey Maclin conducted a study regarding this phenomenon concluding, “the overwhelming majority of people who are confronted by police and asked questions respond, and when asked to be searched, they comply. This is the case even among those… who have every reason to resist these tactics because they actually have something to hide” (Alexander 66). Therefore, the finding suggests that only a few people do not fear a supposed consequence of not abiding by a police officer’s request. Hence, people remain silent and do n...
Why the Police were Unable to Catch Jack the Ripper In the Victorian Times, smog was a big problem. It made visibility extremely bad, so the murders would have been harder to witness. There were lots of prostitutes because there weren’t many jobs available for them. woman, so they were forced to walk on the streets. Most turned to alcohol.
Quinton, P., Bland, N., Miller, Joel (2000) Paper 130: Police stops, Decision-Making, and Practice. London: Home Office
tougher now because there are more people who are educated than ever. Law enforcement wants
The first police department in America developed in New York and began the first era of policing which spanned from the 1830s to 1900 and is known as the political era (Walker & Katz, 2012). As emphasized by Walker (1999) not only did the political era of policing revolve around politics but provided officers with little to no training, education or recruitment standards (as cited in Police: History, 2014). The era also forced shaky job security for law enforcement and officers could be fired and hired at any point with little to no reason. Even men with criminal records were foot patrolling and women were only seen as “matrons” for the jail; they did not carry weapons and often times had very little arrest discretion (Walker & Katz, 2012). According to Walker and Katz (2012), “a $300 payment to the Tammany Hall poli...
Reformers wanted to stray away from political influences and believed that policing should be in the control of police executives (Peak, 2015). While the Political era’s goal was social services, the Reform Era began to shift policing to controlling crime. In addition, the police organizations were reorganized through the study of scientific theory of administration advocated by Fredrick Taylor, which led to the development of maximizing police efficiency (Peak, 2015). To improve professionalism within police departments, O.W. Wilson began emulating what J. Edgar Hoover did with the FBI. In 1924, the FBI director began to raise eligibility standards to develop an incorruptible force. As a result, it had a direct influence on local police agencies by placing emphasis on education, training, honesty and professionalism. Professionalism in police departments came about in the form of new Technological advances and a focus on crime fighting. During this period there were three major advances in technology: two-way radio, police cars and the telephone. Unlike the problems faced during the political era, the advent of these technologies changed everything. With two-way radios, supervisors now had the capability to notify patrol officers of calls and maintain accountability. Patrol cars allowed for greater mobility, which led to officers responding to calls more efficiently. Then telephones allowed for citizens to have a direct line to the police and were encouraged to call for any problem. However, while the advances in technology greatly increased police efficiency, it had unexpected consequences. In contrast, during the political era, officers patrolled on foot, which allowed them to engage citizens and develop a relationship within the community. With the use of police cars, officers no
American law enforcement agencies are based off the English models which began in the early 1800’s. In 1829, the English Parliament passed the Metropolitan Police Act (Walker, 1983). Sir Robert Peel who has been credited as the father of modern policing introduced this act to Parliament (Walker, 1983). This act established the London Metropolitan Police which was the model for American policing. This method of policing incorpor...
... many years later. Also, a common reason for not reporting criminal offenses is the lack of trust and reliability within the police force.
All roles within local, state, and federal agencies provide what we have made of law enforcement today. The levels within the department are effective in the support of their own and effective uses of personnel. Departments are further finding ways to operate more effectively and make the funding of their departments go further. The different roles and training that go into the officers and the multiple forms of patrolling is a time honored tradition that has adapted over time and offered a safer approach to apprehending today’s criminal.
The word ‘police’ is derived from the Greek word politeia or its Latin equivalent politia. The term politeia stands for the ‘state’ or ‘administration’. In present context the term ‘police’ connotes a body of civil servants whose primary duties are to preserve law and order, to prevent and detect crimes and enforce law