Source J is a picture of the back yard of 29 Hanbury Street where Annie Chapman’s body was found. The picture shows a row of terraced houses in a built-up area. In such a densely populated area, you would think that someone must have heard or seen something. The police should have been able to track down at least two or three good witnesses to help them from the immediate neighbourhood.
However, there are many reasons that show that the police weren’t to blame for not capturing Jack the Ripper.
During the time of the Ripper murders, the technology wasn’t available to help catch murderers. For example, there was no fingerprinting, CCTV cameras or DNA testing. Some murders in the 21st Century are proved on a strand of hair matching the DNA of the accused being found at the crime scene. In the 19th Century, all the police could do was ask witnesses to identify the Ripper or catch him red-handed.
During the time of the Ripper murders, police detective work was still in its infancy. The Criminal Investigations Department (or CID) was only formed in 1878, ten years before the murders. The Metropolitan Police had 159 sergeants and 15 inspectors. In 1856, there were only 10 detectives for the whole of London. If there is a high-profile murder in the UK today, there may be up to 30 detectives investigating it and hundreds of uniformed officers looking for evidence and taking witness statements. The resources now available to the police weren’t around at the time of the Ripper murders.
They were also inexperienced at dealing with murders. The outline rules for dealing with murders were only made in 1879. “The body must not be moved, nor anything about it or in the room or place interfered with, and the public must be excluded.” They had never encountered a serial murderer before and there were no precedents to follow in investigating it.
Another problem for the police is that witness statements contradicted each other. On the night of Elizabeth Strides’ murder, five witnesses claim to have seen the Ripper. The problem for the police is that whilst two witnesses seem to be describing the same person, another witness is describing a person who has similar characteristics but a certain feature that is different.
J. Best and John Gardner describe a man who is “weak” and has a “black moustache,” whilst William Marshall describes a “stout” man with the “appearance of a clerk” with “no moustache.” Matthew Packer supports William Marshall’s statement and not J. Best and John Gardner’s. Packer describes a man with “broad shoulders” and “maybe a young clerk.” It is difficult for the police to follow up on these statements as they all contradict each other.
Not only were these descriptions contradictory, they also weren’t very accurate. Elizabeth Longs’ evidence in Source D doesn’t help the police greatly. “I think he was wearing a dark coat but I cannot be sure.” She wouldn’t have the chance to look at pictures of potential suspects on a computer which are available today.
Source B shows that the Ripper was a clinical person and didn’t waste time. “There are no meaningless cuts. It was done by one who knew where to find what he wanted.” You can infer from this that the Ripper planned these murders and was in control of the situation throughout the process. If he took such care in murdering the women, he must have had a suitably astute escape plan to evade police officers.
Source I is a map of the East End in 1888 showing the sites of the murders. The map shows a complex layout of streets that also had many interlinking alleyways. There was no lighting on these streets or alleyways which aided the Rippers’ escape. If the Ripper heard a police officer coming in the opposite direction, he could just step into a shadow as the police officer continued on by him unaware of his presence.
Source H is part of a newspaper article published in the Times after the murder of Mary Kelly. In this article, it admits that it is virtually impossible for the police to capture the Ripper through conventional detective work. “Not a trace is left of the murderer, and there is no purpose in the crime to afford the slightest clue. All the police can hope is that some accidental circumstance will lead to a trace which may be followed to a successful conclusion.”
There were many communities at the time of the Ripper murders who wouldn’t talk to the police. The Polish Jewish community is an example of this. At the time, the community was very close-knit and wouldn’t identify one another as the Ripper. Aaron Kosminski, a Polish Jewish resident in Whitechapel was identified by another man but wouldn’t testify in court because he would be testifying against a fellow Jew. Aaron Kosminski was never charged with the murders because of the bond between Jews at the time.
In conclusion, although the police forces investigating the murders had many faults and are partially culpable, I think that the police weren’t to blame for not capturing Jack the Ripper. You have to compare the difficulties investigating crimes nowadays to investigating during 1888. The police at the time of the Ripper murders were thought of as incompetent by the public and people were less inclined to testify against one another, particularly members of the same religion or race.
A big factor in criminal convictions in the 21st Century is due to forensic evidence or CCTV cameras placing criminals at the scene of the crime. These technologies are a main line of enquiry for police nowadays but these methods were not available to detectives at the time.
The only feasible way of catching the Ripper was to catch him red-handed. This would have been impossible to do considering the number of police officers and resources available to the police at this time. With the use of mobile phones, cars and helicopters, officers these days can move around to track a criminal and intercept him on his escape from another officer. In 1888, a police officer didn’t know if a criminal was coming towards him until they saw him/her. The logistics of an operation to catch the Ripper would have been impossible with the network of alleyways that ran through the East End.
The police had no idea who they were dealing with because there had never been a serial murderer of this kind before. Police investigations these days are carried out in the way that they investigated previous crimes. Due to the fact that there had never been a serial killer before, there were no precedents or guidelines to follow.
