Law and Order in the Late Nineteenth Century.

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Law and Order in the Late Nineteenth Century

Describe the Law and Order in the Late Nineteenth Century

In the 1880s, the police force in Britain was still in its infancy. All the methods of tackling and solving crimes, which we take for granted, were unknown and police work was mostly concerning the prevention of crime by officers on the beat. The Police still being in its infancy would summon the army any time something got out of hand.

London in general and Whitechapel in particular was a very poor area. Almost a million people lived in the East End and were generally poor. This very large population that lived near to or on the wrong side of the law. The levels of crime were not very high if only because most of the inhabitants of Whitechapel were likely to commit crimes outside the area.

There were no forensics and little technological advancement. The police were not experienced very much in detective work which in itself is quite explanatory because it had only been formed a couple of years earlier.

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Police constables throughout the country received little training in the late nineteenth century. Great emphasis was laid on personal appearance and good behaviour. In the late 1880s the reputation of the police force was tarnished by a number of incidents, some very serious. In 1884, the police baton-charged a parade in Cumberland and in 1885, police charged an election demonstration in Nottingham in which they used truncheons and behaved impertinently.

In February 1886, the police had to deal with a mass demonstration of unemployed people in Trafalgar Square. The most serious of them all was Bloody Sunday on 13th November 1887. ...

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