Police constables throughout the country received little training in the late nineteenth century. Great emphasis was laid on personal appearance and good behaviour. In the late 1880s the reputation of the police force was tarnished by a number of incidents, some very serious. In 1884, the police baton-charged a parade in Cumberland and in 1885, police charged an election demonstration in Nottingham in which they used truncheons and behaved impertinently.
In February 1886, the police had to deal with a mass demonstration of unemployed people in Trafalgar Square. The most serious of them all was Bloody Sunday on 13th November 1887. The Police needed backups and used two squadrons of Life Guards as well as two companies of foot guards.
These actions of the police led to an investigation by the House of Commons and a general belief that the police were being unfair. They were seen to be on the side of the middle and upper classes against the working class. This view made it difficult for the police to work in working class areas. One of the most difficult of the all was the East End of London.
The statistics showed that in 1885, there were 13 319 policemen in the Metropolitan Police Force while the population was 5.25 million. Of the 13 319 policemen, only 1 383 policemen were available on duty at any one time.
Why did the murders attract so much attention?
The reason why the Whitechapel murders attracted so much attention in 1888 was due to a number of reasons. First of all the murders were unusual. No one had ever come across murders of this kind ever before.
Another factor that attracted attention was the fact that it was a serial killer committing the murders, i.e. one person killing all the prostitutes. The type of murder also attracted attention due to the fact that the type of murder was also uncommon because it only focused on prostitutes; the only victims were prostitutes.
The type of crime: sex, violence and scandal was the ideal combination for the media to kindle the public opinion and make it attract more attention. This in addition to the numerous cartoons and bogus articles that appeared across the gutter press after the murders of Jack the Ripper.
The public were horrified by the murders but they also were misguided by the gutter press. Many could not read or write so they had to rely on stories that had been passed by word of mouth in which much of the original was lost.
Why couldn’t the police catch Jack the Ripper?
The police were unable to catch Jack the Ripper for many reasons. The first and prime reason was that the murders were so varied across the women i.e. they were different types of women so a clue could not be picked up from there.
The location of the murders also made it very difficult for the police to catch the murderer. The murders took place in alleyways in the middle of the night which also made it very difficult to trace the murders.
The police force was inefficient because of lack of training, which is why they had to hand out handbills to find the identity of the killer. This inflamed public opinion and suspicious people began answering with bogus calls, which wasted police time and the time of the accused, which also obstacled the investigation.
The media as always were not very helpful either. They also inflamed the opinion by naming a certain Jewish slipper maker as the suspect. He began to be known as ‘Leather Apron’ because of the distinction, after that date this certain individual went into hiding.
This case went on for such a long time that it created fear in the hearts of Londoners in general and East-enders in particular.
There were no reliable witnesses or forensics to prove who had actually committed the murders. False calls and too many suspects did not help the mystery either. The sudden end of murders made it even more difficult to trace the murderer.
In conclusion, all these factors as well as the little experience in detective work made it incredulously difficult for the police to catch Jack the Ripper.
