The first detectives were appointed in 1842, but the public was concerned that the plain clothed police officers could not be easily identified. In 1862 photos of criminals were taken in prison, then sent to Scotland Yard where they formed the ‘Rogues Gallery’. The photos were taken because police believed it was possible to identify criminal ‘types’ from the shape of their heads.
The Criminal intelligence Department (CID) was set up in 1878 and this led to considerable improvement in detective methods especially in forensic science. John Toms was convicted of murder in 1884 because the torn paper he used for his pistol wadding was the same as that found in the head wound of his victim.
Even though the police force improve greatly in the late nineteenth century, many of the things we take for granted such as DNA testing were yet to be discovered.
Why did the Whitechapel murders attract so much attention in 1888?
There are several reasons why the Jack the ripper murders attracted some much attention. The first was the media. Newspapers exaggerated what had happen, publishing all the gory details to make people buy the paper. This increased fear among the people. When ‘leather apron’ was a suspect, the media reinforced the fear by publishing details of the man. There are many stories of the papers making things up, just to keep the focus on the murders.
The media links with the nature of the crimes as they gave all the details of the crimes. The nature of the crimes was gruesome as Jack the ripper was the first official serial killer.
Nobody could understand why these crimes had been committed, and this links with the Victorian fascination with murders, mysteries and unsolvable crimes. Arther Conan Doyle was an author who wrote the Sherlock Homes mysteries. This stories were all about murder mysteries and increased the fascination with crime.
As the murders were unsolveable, this links with the nature and extent of the police investigation. The police were not use to solving crime, and they did not have much evidence to go on, most of the witness reports contradicted each other. They suspected many people especially people with experience in dissecting bodies, after the way the women were cut up following the murder. They used leaflets to raise awareness of the murders and to try and catch the killer.
The way the police handled the investigation reflects the reputation of the police. Many people thought the police were ineffective, heavy-handed, and not good enough. The police were not very popular among the working class people living in Whitechaple at the time. The police did not like the nature of Whitechaple.
Whitechaple was a poor working class area. There was social reform, with people wanting to improve conditions, many people went on protests and strikes, including the ‘match girls’ strike led by Annie Besant, in 1888. Because Whitechaple was a poor working class area, with lots of dark alleyways, it was the right environment for crime. Victorians had a paranoia about crime and the nature of Whitechaple had an impact on this paranoia.
At the time cities were very big and people that moved to Britain from other countries were very mistrusted. Foreigners were blamed for most of the crime that was committed. Most of the witnesses in the Jack the Ripper murders describe him as foreign looking middle class man.
I think that the most important reason why the Whitechapel murders attracted so much attention in 1888 was the media. It was through the media that so many people heard about the murders in the first place, and the papers played on the fear that people had by reporting to the best of their ability all the gory details to try to sell the most papers.
Q.3 Why were the police unable to catch Jack the Ripper?
There were many reasons why the police were unable to catch Jack the Ripper, the main ones being the police investigation, the issues with the murders and the media.
Jack the Ripper was the first official serial killer. Until 1888, the police had no experience with dealing with such a criminal. The police were a newly formed organisation and did not have any of the detective methods that we now take for granted. Bloodhounds were used for the first time in 1888 to try to catch Jack the Ripper, but they did little to help the investigation.
There were many witnesses, most with conflicting stories. This caused problems especially when it came to the time of death, as the police usually sided with what the police surgeon had to say. The police also destroyed some evidence, the writing on the wall found after the fourth murder, as the police felt that it was insulting to the Jewish community living in Whitechapel. The were two police forces in London at the time, the City police force and the Metropolitan police force. The two police forces did not get on too well, and this caused problems when it came to solving the murders. The only real chance the police had of catching ‘ The Ripper’ was in the act, however the streets of Whitechapel, were foggy and dark and there was a distrust of the police. This made it even harder to catch ‘The Ripper.’
The murders themselves made it hard to catch ‘the Ripper.’ They seamed to be motiveless and this baffled the police. Most murders knew their victims, but in the case of Jack the Ripper, the murderer and his victims were strangers, who met by chance. Even today these type of murders are hard to solve. The murderer was very clever as he left no clues at the scene. The trail stopped after the fifth murder and there were no more clues or information. The bodies of the victims were dissected which led the police to believe that someone with some form of medical knowledge was to blame.
In Whitechapel there were many slaughterhouses so it was common for people to have blood on them, also as there were many horse and carts around there were also lots of water trough so it would have been easy for the murder to wash the blood off himself. Although the murders were all committed at the weekend and the murder might have not been a Whitechapel resident, the police still suspected people who lived in Whitechapel. All the suspicion led to many Jews being suspected, while others may have misled police for their own motives.
The media published details of the murders to keep the story alive. This increased the public fascination and interest, which led to many hoaxes. This hindered the police investigation, making it difficult for the police to be effective. The media focused on the sensitive issues like the amount of immigrants which influenced the police enquiry. The newspapers published a description of a Jewish man to inflame public opinion and force the police to arrest him.
The media also reported hoaxes which took up a lot of police time and resources. The reports also inflamed public opinion and this led to many attacks on foreigners which also took up police time. As well as increasing public fascination the media also intensified the fear in Whitechapel. This made it less likely that the witnesses would keep a cool head and be careful and objective about their evidence. The press was a nuisance to the police, not only did they create hoaxes, but they also dressed up a prostitutes and planted false evidence. The media put the police under a lot of pressure to get a result. This actually made it harder for the police as they arrested the wrong people, just to please the media.
I feel that the most important reason why the police were unable to catch Jack the Ripper was the nature of the investigation. The police were not use to dealing with murders like this and this was an important factor. In addition, they did not have very advanced detective methods to use, which could have helped to catch Jack the Ripper. However even today a murderer like Jack the Ripper would be very hard to catch.