How did the Police try to catch Jack the Ripper?
The police used many techniques to try to catch Jack the Ripper that were mainly traditional and involved trial and error.
One of the methods used by the police was the questioning of eyewitness’s. This was done to some success but the people questioned were often vague and did not give away much information. An example of this happening would be Elizabeth Long’s statement where she is clearly unsure about what the murderer looked like, “He looked to me like a foreigner, as well as I could make out.” These eyewitness accounts often were either useless or sent the police out looking for someone who was not Jack the Ripper and therefore wasted police time.
The main way of catching Jack the Ripper was thought to be using local appeals. This was because the police believed that he was living in the local area of Whitechapel. This is shown in a leaflet published by the police, “[the murder is] supposed [to be committed] by someone residing in the immediate neighbourhood.” Leaflets were posted around the Whitechapel area to report anybody who might be the murderer, “Should you know of any person to whom suspicion is attached, you are earnestly requested to communicate at once with the nearest Police Station…” However, “The practise of offering reward for the discovery of criminals was discontinued some years ago…offers of reward tended to produce more harm than good” (source G). This method of local questioning rarely worked as people in the Whitechapel area did not want to be associated with the murders as they were scared of what might happen to them. There was no reward on offer.
