There was a lack of experience by the police, there had never been a killer like Jack before, also they did not know he was a serial killer, in fact they would have not known what a serial killer was. The police had a standard method of inquiry, and they always focused on preventing crime not solving it. CID had only been set up for 10 years before; they were dealing with things they were unaware about. They were unprepared and inexperienced.
The police made little progress in the inquiry with Jack the Ripper; this was because of the lack of clues. The ripper left nothing behind that may trace back to him. The only things that were left behind or found belonged to the victims. For example the only things found at the murder of Polly Nicholls were a comb, a broken mirror and a handkerchief. On the fourth murder the dead woman’s apron was found, but also a clue was left, it seemed the murderer had written it, it had had been written on the floor saying ‘The Juwes are the men that will not be blamed for nothing.’ However before the words could be photographed, the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Force ordered them to get rid of it. It was thought to cause ‘onslaught upon Jews’ the police didn’t want this. Any clues they did have they didn’t know what to do with them, and others weren’t photographed, so the police couldn’t do further investigations into the clue because the clue were wiped away. They never photographed the crime scenes either so any clues that may have been missed were picked up on later because there was nothing there for them to work with. That was another reason Jack the Ripper was never caught. Another clue was found, it was Catherine Eddowes apron, it was found covered in blood, being inexperienced with clues and the inexperience of the CID. They couldn’t tell whether it was human or animal blood with not having enough knowledge.
The Ripper murders caught the attention of the public; it inspired the public to get involved in the investigation. This caused problems, like hoax letters from the people claiming to be the ripper. Many people of the town were coming forward to the police and giving information about just general people acting strangely, these were all false and people were released. There was a false lead when a leather apron and a nailbox were found near the body of Annie Chapman belonging to John Richardson. He was one of the witnesses who came forward. Also information that witnesses gave to the death of Annie Chapman created a problem for the police. The police surgeon, Dr Phillips, had given the time of death as about 4.30am, but the witnesses suggested that 5.30am was a much more likely time. This confusion didn’t help.
All this wasted the police’s time, while they could have been searching for the killer.
When Polly Nicholls was murdered the Home Secretary as asked to provide a reward, to help catch the killer. He simply stated that responsibility for catching the murderer lay with the Metropolitan Police Force. The effects of the murders upon Whitechapel were dramatic. At nights the streets were almost deserted. Despite more demands for a reward, the Home Secretary stood by its earlier refusal. This probably delayed any response from the public. There was nothing for the people to work for, if there was a reward they may have worked hard to try and get clues but there wasn’t a reward.
There were many things that added to the fact that the ripper was never caught like: hoax letters, there being no reward, inexperience from the police’s side. The ripper was also very clever, he had an advantage, because of the locations he did the crimes in and also he worked quickly. There are many more.
In conclusion all these points are important as to why the ripper was never caught. I think the main reason for why he was never caught was the police, they were inexperienced and didn’t have a clue about what they dealing with at the time. It was a standard method of policing and technology wasn’t like it was today, the things we use like forensic, DNA and fingerprinting to use to solve a mystery like this one. I also think there being a limited amount of clues, what clues they did have were swiped away so they were unable to search into them more. All the other aspects that I’ve talked about added to Jack the Ripper never being caught, but overall I think with the inexperience of the police and the small amounts of resources were the main problems.
