What was the impact of the 1829 Metropolitan Police Act?

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Frankie Lo        Page         

Conflicts and Contradictions in Crime 2500 words essay

2 What was the impact of the 1829 Metropolitan Police Act?

The Maintenance of Law and Order before the 1829 Metropolitan Act established. Authorities had few resources to cope with riot, crime and disorder. Country parishes and smaller market towns had constables and the local watch and ward; this was the old Tudor system. In London, the Bow Street Runners were set up in 1742. Troops were used to keep order. Local militias were used for local problems and spies were used to track down those who were suspected of disaffection.

The industrial revolution put new pressures on society, leading to violence. Collective living led to collective organisation, which helped to create social disorder on a larger scale. The Penal Code was severe with almost two hundred capital offences and other punishments including transportation. This actually encouraged more serious crime as evidenced by the expression,

"I might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb".

However, prisons were still a bad place to be, even after Peel's reforms of the 1820s. As Home Secretary, he undertook a refurbishment of the prisons and also a large scale reform of the penal code. Eventually prisons did improve although much of the pioneering work was done by people such as Sir Samuel Romily and Elizabeth Fry. Debate about the creation of a standing police force in England raged during the early part of the 19th century. Confronted with political objections and fears of potential abuse Robert Peel (later Sir Robert Peel) sponsored the first successful bill creating a bureaucratic police force in England.

“The Metropolitan Police Act 1829 was an  passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act established the  of , replacing the numerous local constables and officials.”

The Act began in 1828 when Peel as Home Secretary secured a select committee to enquire into the  and the increase of crime in the metropolis. The report he gave for the first time on July 1828 officially recommended a radical reform and extension of the police. The main recommendations were the creation of a central police office under two magistrates freed from all other duties, the combination of all the regular police forces in the London area (excluding the City), and the cost of the new establishment is taken from the Treasury. A bill founded on the report became law in June 1829. An ex-officer, Colonel , and a young barrister, , became the first Commissioners as the two new police magistrates were styled and plans were set on foot for a force of over one thousand men. The new metropolitan police were uniformed but armed only with truncheons. Despite the obstructionism of some local authorities and the hostility of the London mob, they soon won the approval of influential public opinion, and a parliamentary committee set up to enquire into the Cold Bath Field riots of 1833 reported strongly in their favour. The metropolitan police headquarters in Whitehall Place had a back-entry in Scotland Yard generally used by the police which soon gave the popular name to the whole building. At 1834, the Select Committee designated with the task of inquiring into the state of the Police of the Metropolis reported that the “Metropolitan Police Force, as respects its influence in repressing crime and the security it has given to persons and property, is one of the most valuable modern institutions”

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The Metropolitan Police Act established the principles that shaped modern English policing. The first Commissioners were Charles Rowan and Richard Mayne. They insisted that the prevention of crime was the key object of the police force. First, the primary means of policing was conspicuous patrolling by uniformed police officers. Second, command and control were to be maintained through a centralised, semi-military organisational structure. Third, police were to be patient, impersonal, and professional. Finally, the authority of the English constable mock from three official sources: the crown, the law, and the consent and co-operation of the citizenry. Crime and disorder were ...

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