3)
Source D is a description of the Ripper by Elizabeth Long, it says the Ripper had a ‘dark complexion’; it says that he ‘a dark coat’, deerstalker hat’ and was a ‘foreigner’. Source E is newspaper article after the murders of Polly Nicholls and Annie Chapman. It says that the police were told they needed more police officers on the streets, because they do not do enough about the murders
The problem with source D and most of the description of the Ripper is not clear, she often says ‘I think’ and ‘I cannot be sure’ this shows that she is not really sure about the description. This would confuse the police if she were wrong, as they spent a long time looking for a foreigner. She also leave out important information about facial features, which are very important in catching any criminal. This does explain some reasons why the Ripper wasn’t caught.
Source E says the police did not do much to prevent these murders even after the murders before the Ripper murders; this was because the police didn’t have much experience with facing this type of situation, it had never happened. This source also says that there was a ‘network of narrow, dark and crooked lanes’, this means that there were many places for the ripper to make a quick escape from. Both sources are useful to understand why the Ripper was not caught. One other thing that these sources did not mention was that the police were newly formed and did not know how to handle a murder case.
4)
The police used lots of methods to try and catch Jack the Ripper. Source F is a leaflet published after the murders of Elizabeth Stride and Kate Eddowes. It tells me that there were two murders Friday, 31st August, Saturday 8th, and Sunday 30th of September. This statement would have created lots of information because Whitechaple had lots of prostitutes in it. This leaflet isn’t the best, to make it better there should have been a description or something, which would have made even more people remember. One good thing they did do, to make up for this was, they interviewed over 2,000 lodgers in Whitechaple.
Source G is part of a letter from the Home Secretary to the Mile End Vigilance Committee. It says that there will be no reward for any information leading to the capture of Jack the Ripper, because it produces ‘more harm than good’. This was probably the wrong thing because the people will not pay that much attention because there is no reward. The police increased patrol numbers and officers undercover, police even dressed up as prostitutes to try and catch the Ripper, this was a bad idea everyone could spot out the men dressed up as prostitutes. The police tried to keep people calm as much as possible; they did this by rubbing off the message on the wall near the murder of Catherine Eddowes, which said the “Jews would not be blamed for nothing”. As the Jews were already hated in the area they would be blamed.
5)
The police did many things to try and catch Jack the Ripper, but they never did. Many people have different views on whether the police were to blame for this. Some people say the police were to blame simply because they didn’t catch him, but you have to look at all the evidence before you can make a judgment.
Source E shows that the police were to blame for not capturing Jack the Ripper, it says that the police did not have many police officers on the streets when they were advised they should. They still didn’t listen to this advice after the first murder, but as I know they did put a lot more people on the street after the second. Source G shows that the police did not offer a reward for any information leading to the capture of Jack the Ripper, which was a bad thing as many people did not like or trust the current police force, and they had no other way to get information. Source I is a map of the Whitechaple showing where the murders took place. It shows that the murder sites were close together which should have helped the police to catch Jack the Ripper, as they would have known the areas to patrol and search, but the place where he killed where random. There was no pattern to help the police. Source J is a photograph of the site where Annie Chapman died. It shows that there are houses all near this site, so some people must have seen or head something, when only 3 people came forward with sightings. A reward would have helped in this situation making the public more willing to offer information to the police. This photo does show that the Ripper could work in open spaces without being captured, which shows how clever he was in not getting caught.
Using my own Knowledge there are lots of reasons for the police to be blamed. There was a lack of information for the police to use but the information they did have they wasn’t used properly, like the descriptions after the death of Annie Chapman, which was rejected, ignored. When they questioned suspects they let them go too early and didn’t look carefully at them, just like they did with ‘leather Apron’ that was taking money from prostitutes, even if he wasn’t the Ripper they should have kept him to show the Public that they were doing something. Some evidence was destroyed like the message about the Jews on the wall near the murder of Catherine Eddowes. This should have been photographed because this might have been the handwriting of Jack the Ripper, Jews was also spelt wrong, this meant that the Ripper may not have had a good education; this might have been a useful lead for them. The police didn’t widen their search; they concentrated their search in Whitechaple when the murderer could have been living outside the east end. If I would have been a serial murderer of this time I would think it would be stupid to commit these crimes in your hometown, as you were more likely to be caught. They concentrated their search on Jack the Ripper on being a foreigner, which was not the case.
Source A doesn’t say much about the police investigation, but I know that the information about the murderer is probably false like most of the information in newspapers, so information like this would have confused the police, and put them off the trail. Sources B and C are about how the Ripper had ‘Anatomical skill’ and how he planned each murder, this would have narrowed the search to people like doctors but if the Ripper planned each murder there would have been harder for the police to catch him because he knew exactly what he was doing. Source D is a description of Jack the Ripper, the description is not very clear, there are lots of words like ‘I think’ in there. This would give the police a problem of whether this description should be used or not, there were also lots of other descriptions like this. Source F shows that the police did send out many leaflets to try and get some information, the leaflet needs more information on it like a description but this was probably the first time they have done this. The leaflets could have been better worded because they were asked to report any ‘person to whom suspicion is attached’ this statement would have created lots of information because Whitechaple had lots of prostitutes in it.
Source H is the best source for proving that the police were not to blame. It states that the murders were ‘cunningly’ planned and that ‘not a trace was left of the murderer’. It says there are no clues and if the police catch the Ripper it would be a complete fluke, because they have no proper evidence. This is probably over exaggerated a little because it is a newspaper, they do not put down exactly how everything was, but it’s still very true, the police didn’t have much true information to go on. These were the first murders like this, so with no information, how could the police catch him?
I know that the police did interview over 2,000 lodgers, which they tried to get as much information as they could. They also had lots of officers on the streets and lots of men went undercover, dressed as prostitutes to try and catch the ripper, but if the Ripper had known this then he would be more careful making it even harder for the police to catch him. The public did not trust them and they did not offer much help and information. There were no accurate descriptions, which would confuse the police. The most important thing is that the police had just been recognized and this kind of thing had never happened before. They also had no technology to use, which would have made it hard. E.g. fingerprints,
