Were the police to blame for not catching Jack the Ripper?

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Were the police to blame for not catching Jack the Ripper?

Modern historians are very much in doubt as to whether the Victorian police were to blame for not catching Jack the Ripper. From source A, we can infer that these murders were quite uncommon, as the source says they have startled London. Because murders like this are uncommon, the police are very inexperienced when it comes to dealing with crimes such as this. Source A also states how the two victims involved were “the poorest of the poor”. From my own knowledge, I can tell that at the time, Whitechapel was a very overcrowded area, full of people living in poverty, which is why many women were forced into prostitution. Because of this, the police did not have many officers patrolling the area, instead they focused on wealthier areas, and this was not really their fault. Sources B and C would have been very misleading to the police. They mainly contradict each other, as B believes the killer had some anatomical knowledge. However, source C does not mention this at all, and by his descriptions, we can infer that Dr. Frederick Blackwell saw this murder as nothing more than a savagery attack. This would have wasted a lot of the polices time, as they would have been suspicious of doctors or surgeons at first, then after Dr. Blackwell’s report, would have been back where they started, through no fault of their own. Descriptions given by members of the public were also not very useful to them, for example in source D, Elizabeth Long is very unsure with the description she has given. She says, “I think” and “I cannot be sure.” In Victorian times, police would have relied on descriptions being accurate. Also, the public were startled by this news, and it was very hard for the police to do their job with the public worrying, and criticising them, especially with newspapers making it worse with completely exaggerated publishing. For example, in source E where the article says “The sights and sounds are an apocalypse of evil.

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Source H also shows how hard this case must have been for the police, as it says, “Not a trace is left of the murderer.” Source I shows murders that were committed in and around Whitechapel in 1888. We believe that only a few of these were committed by the ripper, however, the Victorian police force did not have the knowledge and equipment that we do today, and would not have been sure of this. From my own knowledge, I can tell that no forensic science was available to the Victorian police and they would not have been able ...

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