In the 19th century the police force was quite new to Britain. There were two police forces the bow street runners and the Thames river police, but after two years the Thames river police was established, the home secretary Sir Robert Peel introduced the metropolitan police force.
The main aim of the police in the late 19th century was to stop people committing crimes, they didn’t really think about solving the crimes. it was common for the police officers to deal with drunkenness and petty theft which was common in the late 19th century. The police would also get involved in controlling the public in demonstrations and public events. Some people thought the police as security but others, mostly middle class people saw them as their enemy. The were attacks o0n police officers so not many people wanted to become police officers.
In the late 19th century there were three main police forces, metropolitan, county and borough police. The metropolitan police was introduced in 1829 when Sir Robert Peel was home secretary, the first metropolitan police act was passed and the metropolitan police was force established. The metropolitan police force was to take the role of being watchman and special constable. They were to patrol the streets and keep order and deter crime. They also had to stop disturbances such as riots and keep things under control when there was a strike or a demonstration. They often used batons to control the crowd and they soon got a reputation for being heavy handed.
The county and borough police act was passed in 1856. It was when all the counties and boroughs had their opportunity to have their own police forces. This act led government to pay grants of 25% to the police forces to help with the cost of inspection. There would be three inspectors of constabulary who would check the police force annually and if you pass it they will issue a certificate. The grants will only be paid with that certificate. The chief constable also had to send a report on crime in that area.
Police forces were different in every county and every borough. They used different methods to stop crime. Police had different roles in different part of the country. In some, police were used as school attendance officers and in others as life savers near rivers. Officers often had to spend up to fourteen hours a day, seven days a week patrolling the streets of London. Police officers often had to walk seven miles without a break in the daytime and two miles in the night time.
