4. Source F is a police leaflet published after the murders of Elizabeth Stride and Kate Eddowes, this leaflet is a very reliable source as it was published by the police which means that it is factual and also it was published at the time of the murders. It was published by the police in an attempt to glean information from the public about the identity of Jack the Ripper.
Source G is Part of a letter from the Home Secretary to the Mile End Vigilance Committee on 17 September 1888; it concerns the use of reward money for the information about Jack the Ripper.
Source F tells us that the police attempted to gain help about the Ripper by sending leaflets to homes throughout London (80,000 homes approximately) so one way the police tried to catch Jack the Ripper was to get as much information as possible about suspicious people in Whitechapel and to follow up upon any possible leads. This also shows us just how desperate the police were and how they needed help from the public to capture the Ripper. This also tells us the limitations of the police force as there was little more they could do at times that talk to interview people from Whitechapel. The leaflet also asks anyone with information to come to the nearest metropolitan police station showing the rift between the central London police force and the other one which prevented the two from pooling their information. The police also put more men on the streets of Whitechapel in attempt to catch The Ripper in-the-act however this was highly unlikely to work due to the streets of Whitechapel layout and the lack of manpower in the police force. They tried to put policemen on the street dressed as prostitutes however this did not work as most refused to have their beards shaven off thus ruining their disguise. Bloodhounds were used to track down the Ripper but given that they had neither clothing nor blood of the Ripper this proved unsuccessful. The main ways in which the police attempted to catch the Ripper were: the use of bloodhounds, disguised policemen, interviewing people and sending out leaflets the latter of which may have been more successful if a reward had been offered. Source G explain why reward money was not offered for information leading to the capture of Jack the Ripper however we must remember that it is dated 17/9/88 – only after the second murder – and we do not know if things changed after that date. However If they did not their then would be no reason for the people of Whitechapel to offer any information, especially with the police forces unsavory reputation at the time.
5. The police were not completely to blame for not capturing Jack the Ripper. There were many other factors that contributed to this. Jack the Ripper himself used various different methods to escape capture, the media played an important role, there were also problems with witnesses and the Whitechapel area also helped him to avoid capture. There were many mistakes that the police made during their investigation, however there were a lot of factors that they could not avoid. One thing that the police did do to try and capture Jack the Ripper was put more police on the beat. It did cut down crime, however this may not have changed the situation on the streets, because of the layout of the streets the police could not possibly be present throughout whitechapel, this is shown when after one of the deaths a security cordon was put around the street to preserves the crime scene but many citizens found ways in through streets that the police simply did not know about. The fact that the police attempted to put up a security cordon shows us that the police were trying to gain some sort of clue (such as forensic evidence) by keeping the crime scene undisturbed, which suggests that the police did know what they were doing. Perhaps the biggest mistake left by the police was to clean off a message supposedly left by the murderer in Goulston street on the night of the "double event" the messsge said "The Juwes are the men That Will not be blamed for nothing" the decision to destroy the message was made by the police commissioner Sir Charles Warren, the reasons that have been given for this decision are, that it could provoke racism to the many "Juwes" living in Whitechapel at the time leading to rioting and other possible trouble throughout London. Warrens reputation however tells us a lot about him as well, he was thought to only be good for keeping order and controlling crowds rather than detective work, which does suggest lack of expertise in the police force they could not be entirely blamed for this however as the work of a serial killer was a new concept entirely to them. The plaice could however be blamed for the conflict of the tow main forces n London which did not share evidence of recourses when it trying to catch jack the ripper. One other important piece of evidence that was found on the night of the double event was a piece of Eddowes apron that was found on a nearby doorstep, it had been used to wipe a knife and assumed to have been dropped there by the Ripper. After the cloth was found the police attempted to use bloodhounds to track down the Ripper, this shows the intelligence of the police as they used what little evidence they had to attempt to find the Ripper and also the use of bloodhounds at the time was rare.
The police were also hampered by their reputation for brutality and were thought to be incompetent and untrustworthy, due to this people were reluctant to come forward with any information that they had about the murders. The 2 square mile in the centre of London had its own separate police force to the rest of London this could cause problems with investigations as no information was transferred between the two, the blame could be attributed to both police forces for not working closer together. The main reasons that the police could not be blamed for not capturing the ripper were: they were undermanned and under resourced this was not the fault of the police and could not be helped. Because Whitechapel was a maze of unchartered dark alleyways and dingy streets it would not have been hard for the ripper simply to disappear after each murder without the police having a hope of finding them.
