Even though the odds were stacked against the Police, they still didn’t co-operate with each other; there was very bad communication between them. Henry Smith and the City Police often suffered disputes – for example the graffito from Goulstone Street was a major issue between the forces. The Metropolitan Police force wanted to keep the message until a Police photographer arrived, yet the City Police wanted it removed, so as not to incite racial hatred.
The Police did use the help they got; they did examine the Coroner’s report; Source B and Source C show this. They acted on it by looking for any in the area with ‘anatomical knowledge’. However, acting so quickly on the advice of the Coroner may have made the Police act irrational, and waste a lot of time following useless leads. The same can be said from the Doctor’s report (previously mentioned as Source C), from which the same conclusions can be made.
Despite ever thinning ground, the Police even chose to ignore the evidence of Elizabeth Long (Source D) due to the fact that it was very vague. Instead they utilised the evidence of Dr. Phillips (again, Source B) – whose findings were contradictory to the evidence of Elizabeth Long.
The Police also, however, faced many difficulties in the terrain of London itself. As Source E states, the Whitechapel district of London is ‘connected by a network of narrow dark and crooked lanes.’ This, along with Source I (the map, detailing how Whitechapel was set out) and Source J, which depicts the backyard of number 29 Hanbury Street, attest to Whitechapel’s streets, and prove they were very difficult to manoeuvre keep watch of to the Police.
The Police even thought to distribute leaflets (Source F) to encourage the public to give information. This clearly shows that they were willing to try a wide and diverse variety of tactics in order to catch the Ripper – especially ones they had never thought to try before. This shows their increasing frustration in trying to catch the criminal. At one point, the Police even dressed up as female prostitutes, attached rubber soles to their feet to quieten footfalls and searched houses in the Whitechapel district. This proves how hard the Police had tried.
However, despite their growing irritation at their inability to apprehend the Ripper, the Police force still declined giving an offer to the Mile End Vigilance Committee. This was largely a good idea as the offer of money may have made people give false information.
Therefore, I personally believe that the Police were not to blame for not capturing Jack the Ripper, as they had little access to sophisticated methods of law enforcement.
