The police tried a lot of different methods; we can see one method in source G. But due to the fact that they did not have a lot of knowledge of serial killers they were all unsuccessful. The police first two lines of inquiry after Polly Nichols murder were; ‘Those with knowledge of dissecting’ and ‘those connected in some way with prostitutes’ These inquiries were unsuccessful as the police arrested and realest three horse slaughterers who had abilities. They also asked questions of workers in abattoirs and slaughter houses.
Another major disability for this investigation was that there were two different inspectors in charge. The Polly Nicholls, Catherine Eddowes, Eliazabeth Stride and Mary Kelly murders, Fredrick Abberline were in charge while, in the Annie Chapman murder another inspector was put in charge. This created competition between the two inspectors, and not all the information was shared. They did try to work together and it was these two men who decided the murder was the same in the first three cases.
After the Annie Chapman murder the police realest a new investigation on people with medical knowledge and foreigners. This information was based on the coroner and Elizabeth Long’s evidence, yet there was no real proof of this.
After the Annie Chapman murder is when everyone really starts to panic. Everyone is suspicious of any slight change and reports it straight to the police. This wasted a lot of police time. Although the police did listen to some witnesses; such as Elizabeth Long. Elizabeth Longs evidence was only accepted where she wasn’t sure, Inspectors ignored her definite time of death fir a police surgeon’s time of death. This was another defective part of the police methods they judged the importance of the information due to the class the informant was in.
Just before the double murder of Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes the police increased the patrols in the White Chapel area. Although this was successful there was still insufficient numbers of police to cover such a difficult area.
Source F is useful to some extent, as it gives me a lot of key information about how the police, the origin of the source, tried to catch Jack the Ripper but it also has its weaknesses. The purpose of the source was to inform the public and ask for their help. The nature of the source was given out in the form of hand bills by the police. The purpose of this source therefore shows that the police, where desperate. This police notice was given out on “…Friday 31st …”of September in 1888 after the double murder of Elizabeth stride Catherine Eddowes. This was a last resort for the police as they had no information at all, “should you know of any person of whom suspicion is attached”, this is proof as they have no description of that person. “…you are earnestly requested…” gives me the impression that the police do not have any major leads as well. This was probably useful but not very hands on approach to catch the killer. I also know that the policing in Whitechapel became tighter, in efforts to catch the Ripper red handed, there were more policemen on the beat and house to house inquiries. The police were not trained for such individual murders, they only had two main purposes, to keep order and deal with riots. This means the only thing they really could do was to patrol the area. The police had few detectives, whom would simply follow suspicious characters. This would be quite difficult as there was a great deal of violence, prostitution and drunkenness in the East End of London. A suspicious character would not be very easy to find.
After the last and worst murder of Mary Kelly, the police did everything to try and catch Jack the Ripper. Firstly they attempted to jog the memories of the public by publishing the ‘dear boss letter’ written from the journalists, which they didn’t realise at the time. This letter only panicked everyone even more. The police used the William Hutchinson description, and took it very seriously, they circulated it at all police stations. But the information was later thought as too good to be true. Many writers have suggested that he was just trying to avoid suspicion of himself. Even though this was suggested the police did not investigate him at all. The police patrols and outbreaks of mob violence showed how hard the police tried hard, but some say that the police tried too hard. The police even went to the extremes of dressing as female prostitutes and trying to in trap the Ripper but they had no success.
Eventually the murders became so much a subject for discussion that even Queen Victoria showed concern at what was going on. She told the prime Minster; “this new most ghastly murder shows the absolute necessity for some very decided action. All these courts must be lit, and our detectives improved. They are not what they should be.” This was a common reaction at the time. The police just weren’t doing enough. But on the other hand as we can see from sources F and G, what more could they do. Though the times gave a more balanced view on the situation, “The murders, so continued, are carried out with a complete ruthless which altogether baffles investigators. Not a trace is left of the murderer, and there is no purpose in the crime to afford the slightest clue. All the police can hope is that some accidental circumstances will lead to a trace which may be followed to a successful conclusion.” This was a remarkable perceptive assessment of the case. All of the evidence suggests that Jack the Ripper struck at random. He worked so quickly that his victims were unable to put up any sort of a fight. He was entirely cold-blooded, completely ruthless and clearly some sort of sexual psychopath. More than 90% of murders are committed by persons known to the victims, but, in the case of the Ripper murders, it appears that Killer victims were complete strangers. What is more, the killer only selected his victims as result of chance meeting. Even today, murders who work like this are very difficult to catch. This shows how hard it was for the police to try and catch Jack the Ripper. He struck at the wrong time the police were not experienced and the investigators had no real forensic proof.