Source G is part of a letter from the Home Secretary to the Mile End Vigilance Committee on 17 September 1888. It shows that there was no reward offered and the Mile End Vigilance Committee (who were a neighbourhood watch) wrote to the Home Secretary to ask for a reward to be offered. They wrote back and said ‘ The practice of offering reward for the discovery of criminals was discontinued some years ago because experience showed that such offers of reward tented to produce more harm than good.’ This shows that even the high authorities were not willing to take control of the matter, because they felt it was not big enough. We know this because ‘The Secretary of State is satisfied that there is nothing in the circumstances of the present case to justify a departure from the rules.’ This is a clear indication that the police or the authorities did not see these murders as a major case worthy enough for opening a reward and this letter were their final word on it.
The police also tried to catch Jack the Ripper by collecting and using the evidence they found at the crime scene. They used to take pictures of the scene usually by drawing what they saw. This was not a very effective method, because things could have been missed out and detailing would not have been accurate. Photography was also used, however it was a new invention and therefore there were a lot of disadvantages. To start off with photos could only be take in day light, they would only be black and white, it took a long time to set up, it was very expensive to use, the development of the photos would have taken a long time and there would have been no close ups. This was definitely not a very effective method because the final pictures turned out unclear and very grainy. We also now that only Mary Kelly’s crime scene was photographed inferring that it was a piece of equipment that was not used very often by the police because it was not very accurate. If the technology that is available to us today were available to the police in 1888 then they would have been more likely to catch the Ripper. Today DNA is a major reason why a lot of criminals are caught. If they were able to use it in 1888 then they could have analysed the apron that they found and obtained DNA if the murderer. Also fingerprinting was not available to them in 1888, however it was written about, but never actually developed.
There was also an increase in the number of police on the streets. However it made barely any difference, because the fog that descended onto the Eastend at night due to its proximity to the river Thames meant that Jack the Ripper could jump in and out of shadows. The fog just added to the poorly lit streets of Whitechaple, which was a great advantage for the Ripper.
The Victorian people also believed that the image of what a victim saw just before they were killer, remained on their retina. The police therefore wasted a lot of time trying to find an image on the retina when it was not even there.
Another method that the police used to try and catch Jack the Ripper was the use of bloodhounds. They were accepted as a standard policing method in Victorian England. However they were fairly useless because lots of people would have been around the area of the crime and therefore the dogs would have followed those scents and may have ended up going to the wrong person. They were a waste of time especially as they did not work.
The police also tried to catch Jack the Ripper by doing door-to-door enquiries. This however would have been unsuccessful procedure for a number of reasons. Firstly a lot of people would have been scared to answer their doors when they saw that the police are at their door. They would not have known what was wrong and may have felt that they had done something wrong and therefore would not have opened the door. They also may have been hiding something from the police and would have just not answered their doors. Also even if people do know something and decide to talk to the police they are barely likely to tell on their friends or neighbours. Finally, it takes a long time for the police to go around to all the houses and almost nothing new is discovered.
