Rioting was also quite a common event in London as social and economic changes followed the industrial revolution. Many of these riots involved the middle and upper classes but the 19th century saw the working class rioting to show the government their unhappiness. Most of these riots ended in a blood bath due to the government having only the army to turn to but with the Metropolitan Police Force being set up the rioting was ended more or less peacefully.
The MPF was set up at the beginning the 19th century which was a good sight to see as only a couple of years ago with the population of London reaching 1.5 million and there only being 5,000 law enforcers in London it was only a matter of time before serious disturbances became more and more common. The government still depended mostly upon the army or local militia to keep the peace in London. This is the reason for the MPF to be set up as well as the people wanting a stable, working police force in London. Robert Peel is the main behind this idea, who believed that the idea the existing police force was a joke. He set up a Metropolitan Police Force that was effective around a 3.5 mile radius of London’s Centre. The force contained 3,200 men commanded by 144 constables each with 4 inspectors and 17 divisions.
The ‘bobbies’ or ‘peelers’ wore a dark blue uniform and a tall hat. They were only armed with a truncheon which left them open to attack. The reason for the downgraded weaponry was so they were the exact opposite of the army who had the tendency to get violent and stir up the fire. The reputation was a bad one because most of the working class had survived simply by thieving from others now that they had been stopped people were starving and so they were beginning to be called Peel’s Private Army. There was also the problem of the judges as they didn’t like the policemen and never tried anyone as guilty of killing a policeman. Soon the Londoners began to realise that they were having an effect on the crime levels in London but most criminals had only moved out of London to other cities but no one was complaining at the time.
Although the prevention of crime in London had been upgraded dramatically there were still problems with the judicial system such as most criminals being too poor to afford a solicitor or the criminal being able to hear who voted them guilty. The cases also only lasted a few minutes and during this time the jury never left to vote in private which meant the criminal could identify anyone who was found guilty. The system also required the victim to pay to take the criminal to court and most people couldn’t afford it, as well there was no access to legal aid which meant most victims had no idea how to prosecute.
The judge also had difficulties as well because most crimes held death penalties and the smallest of crimes meant a public execution for that criminal. By 1868 the judicial system got in sync with the police force and brought in imprisonment and fines for the criminals to pay. However these still had flaws since if you were rich you didn’t have to worry about the money. Imprisonment was also quite flawed as most of living qualities in prison exceeded those in the outside world so the poor committed crimes just to get in, leading to overcrowded prisons. The prisons were a new thing in the 19th century as unlike the executions these were used to reform the criminals rather than get rid of them all together, before the 19th century the prisoners were very badly taken care of but with new inspections the quality increased. During the first decade prison reputation was very bad and criminals weren't deterred from committing crimes but over time the crime rates began to drop again and London had just invented the first criminal rehabilitation system in England.
In conclusion John Peel and the police force paved the way for the 20th century and without the new system in place London and the rest of England would have fallen to criminals, rioters and disgruntled citizens. The systems had kept London safe for the next century, and were quickly spread through the rest of England as the criminals moved further and further away from the policed cities. The systems have been introduced in many countries and have proved themselves to be very effective systems.
