The lack of technology at the time is also paramount in understanding why it was near impossible for the Police to catch Jack the Ripper. At the time of the murders, there was separation and competition between various police forces across London, so information was not shared. This lack of communication and distribution of evidence was also provoked by the lack of computers and therefore easy and fast communication, meant that vital evidence was not shared so individual police forces were trying to catch the Ripper by themselves. Lack of technology at the time also extended to forensic technology, which although was being pioneered at the time of the murders was still primitive. Without substantial forensic evidence, there were very few clues with regards to the true identity of Jack the Ripper making the Ripper near impossible to catch. Source H gives us a greater insight into the effects of lack of technology into the Ripper case where we are told by the Times the only way that Jack would be caught was through "some accidental circumstance will lead to a trace…". This statement contributed to operations where police officers attempted to dress as prostitutes to catch Jack red handed. These failed to work as the officers disguised as prostitutes were made to wear their heavy-duty police boots therefore giving away their true occupation. This lack of resources and technology was caused mainly through the low wages of police officers and the lack of funding from the government.
The very fact that Jack was the very first savage, serial killer also posed a problem for the newly formed police service as they had never come across a person of such a savage nature before and therefore no experience in dealing with this type of investigation that was now plaguing them, therefore they had no past experiences to draw upon making it still harder to find a man able to commit such a crime.
Journalists also contributed to the failure to discover the identity of Jack the Ripper by ruined the Police investigation and muddled an already baffling case. Evidence repeatedly leaked out about the Ripper murders and was published in the newspapers. This is clearly shown by the sources A, E and H (newspaper articles) which contain information on the murders, which was released to the public, this spoilt the police investigation as any member of the public could commit a copycat murder and confuse the police by leading them to a fake Ripper. Another good example of the presses interference is shown through the large amount of hoax Ripper letters the police received around the time of the murders, on such example of this is the “From hell” letter which brought the Ripper a new even more horrific status as a cannibal who could gloat over the carnage that he caused. These press interventions lead us to the question whether all five murders were committed by the same person, or was each murder a copycat of the previous murders. This publicizing of material confused the already baffling police investigation and made it very hard to obtain real evidence, as evidence passed on to police was often proven false or hoax making the murders near impossible to solve.
On the other hand, it is possible to agree with the statement and say that it was the Police force's fault for not discovering the true identity of Jack the Ripper. One of the most prominent arguments behind this view is that the many Police forces around London at the time did not make the Ripper murders a national investigation, within which evidence and ideas could be shared, discussed and increase the probability of discovering the identity of Jack the Ripper. This lack of collaboration between the forces was mainly due to the petty competition between Police forces and surely hindered the police investigations into to the Ripper murders and in effect the chance of discovering the identity of the Ripper.
The Police are also blamed for failing to catch the Ripper as they insisted on using narrow lines of questioning. For example, they were very narrow minded in the fact they only looked at certain groups of people; butchers, doctors and slaughterers. Furthermore only people in the area of Whitechapel were questioned; source F tells us that the murders were thought to have been committed by someone “…residing in the immediate neighborhood”. This narrow minded approach to the investigation went against popular opinion that the Ripper was foreign and therefore may have come from a different area of London, or even been a foreign doctor as suggested by Queen Victoria. This narrow line of enquiries would have largely contributed to the Ripper not being caught.
On several separate occasions police investigators failed to take into account vital witnesses. A prime example of this comes in Source B; the coroners report of the death of Polly Nichols where the coroner says, "No mere slaughterer of animals could have carried out these operations". This shows the true naivety of the police as after this report the police still insisted on wasting time on slaughterers and butchers. Turning a blind eye to important evidence from witnesses such as this may have been one of the main reasons for the Ripper never being caught.
Although the media did play a partial role in encouraging copycat murders, the police were also partially to blame, as they must have released some information about the murders to the press. This is clearly evident by the fact that the newspaper gained information such as how brutal the murders were, "…a demented being…extraordinary violence…" this clearly shows that the police must have released some information to the press therefore helping to add to there own problems. The police often published unnecessary information such as one of the many letters supposedly from the Ripper containing the phrase, "Next time I shall cut of her left ear." By publishing these vital clues the police were effectively encouraging copycats and in turn shooting themselves in the foot.
In conclusion I believe that it was not completely the fault of the police for not uncovering the true identity of Jack the Ripper. This is because they had many unhelpful factors to deal with such as the harsh conditions the police had to work in, the lack of technology and funding, the fact that Jack was the first serial killer and journalists also hindered the investigation. On the other hand there is evidence to suggest the fact that the police were to blame for not capturing the Ripper. This includes such facts as the unnecessary rivalry between police forces around London and in effect the unwillingness to share evidence, the narrow lanes of investigation that the police used, the dismissing of key eyewitnesses and the fact that the police published evidence that could provoke copycat killings all contributing the then Rippers avoidance of capture.
