Source A is written in a newspaper which means that it can’t be trusted as much as C and B. Sources C and B are written by people with insight in medical knowledge, and Source A is a mere report in a newspaper which tends to try and get as many people to read it instead of factual evidence of what happened, newspapers over exaggerate the situation also.
3) Source D is useful in helping understand why the Ripper was able to avoid capture. This is because Elizabeth Long gave evidence describing the man that she saw talking to Annie Chapman, before she got murdered. However in her evidence she is in doubt a few times. Therefore her evidence could not have been as reliable, and so they could not catch the Ripper. In source D, Elizabeth Long describes the man to have a ‘dark complexion’. This could not be as accurate due to the surrounding of London. This is for the reason that there was no street lighting and so the Ripper would have obviously looked darker then his natural complexion. Another aspect that supported the statement that the Ripper was of dark complexion is that there were narrow streets in London. Due to there being narrow streets they would have looked dark and dingy. As a result complexions of people would logically look darker. It is written that the accused wore a ‘deerstalker hat’. This helps understand why the ripper was able to avoid capture. Additionally, it states he was a foreigner, this report was taken extremely seriously and the police acted immediately to track down a foreigner that matched this uncertain description.
4) Source F is a leaflet made by the police just after the death of Elizabeth Stride and Kate Eddowes. It gives no information about the appearance of Jack the Ripper, just about the times of death and to look out for anyone suspicious. In Source G written by the Home Secretary to the Mile End Vigilance on 17th Sept. 1888, states that they weren’t giving rewards out for information which dramatically reduced the chances of capturing Jack.
There was a door to door search for evidence. If the door was answered, the police usually got the same type of responses. Another way, which was frequently used, was the use of bloodhounds. These were dogs with a remarkable sense of scent. They were more often than not, taken to the crime scene, to get the scent of the scene within them. They were then allowed to wander off, to find another place in the area where the same scent was found. This is where they hoped to find the killer, but normally the dogs ended up near someone who had been involved in the investigation and who had been in contact with the crime scene. The reason for this was that the police did not cordon off the crime scene, so a lot of passers-by would have got quite close to the scene and therefore carried the scent on them, which was sensed by the bloodhounds. Members of the police generally followed closely behind, but on one particular misty night they did not. They let the bloodhounds loose and regrettably they never returned.
The police force started to become more and more anxious as the number of Ripper victims increased. They increased the number of police on the streets which did not work. So they tried to dress up male police officers as prostitutes to try and trap the Ripper this also did not work. After this attempt, they tried to use a detective there were limitations on the CID because they where only just formed and was not experienced in solving murder cases like this before. Although they learnt the value of footprints, fingerprints. After all the attempts, Jack still remained free.
5) The police did many things to try and catch Jack the Ripper, but they never did. Many people have different views on whether the police were to blame for this. Some people say the police were to blame simply because they didn't catch him, but you have to look at all the evidence before you can make a judgement.
Source E shows that the police were to blame for not capturing Jack the Ripper, it says that the police did not have many police officers on the streets when they were advised they should. They still didn't listen to this advice after the first murder, but as I know they did put a lot more people on the street after the second. Source G shows that the police did not offer a reward for any information leading to the capture of Jack the Ripper, which was probably a bad thing as many people did not like or trust the current police force, and they had no other way to get information. Source I is a map of the Whitechapel showing where the murders took place. It shows that the murder sites were close together which should have helped the police to catch Jack the Ripper, as they would have known the areas to patrol and search, but the place where he killed where random. There was no pattern to help the police. Source J is a photograph of the site where Annie Chapman died. It shows that there are houses all near this site, so some people must have seen or head something, when only 3 people came forward with sightings. A reward would have helped in this situation making the public more willing to offer information to the police. This photo does show that the Ripper could work in open spaces without being captured, which shows how clever he was in not getting caught.
Using my own knowledge there are lots of reasons for the police to be blamed. There was a lack of information for the police to use but the information they did have they wasn't used properly, like the descriptions after the death of Annie Chapman, which was disregarded just because their times didn't correspond with the time of the coroners time of death. When they questioned suspects they let them go far too soon and didn't look carefully at them, just like they did with 'leather Apron' that was taking money from prostitutes, even if he wasn't the Ripper they should have investigated further.