Source B is an official coroner’s report into the death of Polly Nichols. Unlike source A, no inflammatory or opinions are used to shock the reader. The source only contains description of the body and educated guesses about the killer and the wounds. We learn from source B that the killer would have needed “considerable anatomical knowledge and skill”. Source C supports this evidence as the source does not tell us about any meaningless cuts, which suggests that the killer knew what he was doing. The evidence from both sources suggests that the same person murdered both Elizabeth Stride and Polly Nichols as the sources suggest that they had both been killed in a similar manner, most importantly there were no meaningless cuts on either body.
- Source D is primary evidence from a witness, Elizabeth Long, at an inquest into the death of Annie Chapman. The source is useful in helping us understand why Jack the Ripper was able to avoid capture as it illustrates the difficulties the police had in trying to identify the killer. The witness is very unsure of what she saw, this is possibly due to the darkness of the streets at the time. The fact that the police could not be sure of what the witnesses were telling them and the fact that the he operated at night helped Jack the Ripper avoid capture as the police could never be sure who they were looking for. It is likely that the police heard other evidence from witnesses, some of it may have agreed but it is likely that a lot of the evidence was conflicting so the police would not know which leads to follow. There was also the possibility that the man was a foreigner which made the search even wider.
Source E is an article from a local newspaper. Because of the origin of this source we should immediately question how useful it is as local newspapers tend to use inflammatory language such as “apocalypse of evil” to sensationalise local news to shock their readers. To a lesser extent the fact that it is secondary evidence makes it not as useful as source D. Source E is prejudiced against the police force, so is therefore not very useful as we are only being given information the journalist is using to try and persuade us to agree with him. The source suggests that the police force was not strong enough and did not do enough to try and reduce the amount of crime. The source suggests that at night particularly there was not enough order, this would make the task of catching Jack the Ripper even harder as they had all the other crimes to deal with as well. The Source does, however, provide some useful evidence as it informs us that “The main thoroughfares of Whitechapel are connected by a network of narrow, dark and crooked lanes” which would make it easy for Jack the Ripper to escape, if he knew the area well.
- From source F we can learn that the police tried to find witnesses or informers by distributing leaflets after the murders of Catherine Eddows and Elizabeth Stride. This method was not very effective as local residents did not trust the police force so in addition to distributing leaflets the police visited common lodging houses to interview people staying there. Police targeted butchers and slaughters for interrogation as the police believed that because of their profession they might have the knowledge to murder a woman in the manner that they were being murdered. Police also interviewed people in the docks as they had had descriptions from witnesses saying that the man looked forgein. The police force used many methods, some conventional and some unconventional such as an experiment in the use of dogs to follow scents. Some members of the police force even dressed up a male police officer as a prostitute to try and attract the killer. One thing that the police did not do, according to source G, was to offer a reward to anyone who discovered the identity of Jack the Ripper. Even though this could lead to false leads I believe that it would have been a great help to the police force as they did not have the support of the working class, who were the people most likely to have any useful information and a reward could have persuaded them to reveal any information.
- In order to consider the statement “the police were to blame for not capturing Jack the Ripper” several factors need to be examined as the task of identifying Jack the Ripper was made harder for the police than many other murderers for several reasons. One reason is because according to source A no “adequate motive” could be found for the murder. Sources B , C and H also tell us that the murderer was very professional when killing his victims; he also left very few clues for the police. The fact that source B concludes that the killer must have had “considerable anatomical knowledge and skill” suggests that the killer must have been an educated man. However, the letters, which were apparently from Jack the Ripper, contradict the belief that the killer was educated as they were written with very poor English, it also supports the believe that he was foreign. Source D demonstrates to us that the evidence of witnesses was not very useful as Jack the Ripper operated at night and any descriptions of him were very vague. The public were also very reluctant to help the police force as they saw them as being useless and untrustworthy. This prejudice against the police force is shown in source E which is an article from a local newspaper in which the police force is shown to be disorganised and unsupportive of the local people.
The police force explored every avenue of investigation, both conventional and unconventional. Source F is evidence of the police attempting to find witnesses. Police officers also interrogated sixty seven butchers and slaughterers during the course of the inquiry. Some police men went undercover dressed as prostitutes to act as decoys. The police force also experimented with using dogs to trace scents. One thing that the police did not do, according to source G, was to offer a reward to anyone who discovered the identity of Jack the Ripper, even though this could lead to false leads. I believe that it would have been a great help to the police force as they did not have the support of the working class, who were the people most likely to have any useful information and a reward could have persuaded them to reveal any information.
In conclusion I do not believe that the police were to blame for not capturing Jack the Ripper. The police are to blame to a certain extent but at that time the role of the police was limited in investigating and solving crimes. The police also suffered from a lack of technology, for example now the police have the use of forensics to aid them. To a greater extent, the fact that the people at the time did not give the police the support that they needed to carry out their jobs properly is one reason why Jack the Ripper was never caught but, to an even greater extent, the skill and care that Jack the Ripper used is why he was never caught. The environment in which Jack the Ripper operated in also made it harder for the police to capture him as “the main thoroughfares of Whitechapel are connected by a network of narrow, dark and crooked lanes.”
