Jack The RipperQuestion: 5 Study all the sourcesThe police were to blame for not capturing Jack The Ripper. Use the sources and your own knowledge to explain whether you agree with this view.
...s in 1843 there was a special detective branch set up. And in 1877 the CID replaced it. This was because several detective branches had been found guilty for accepting bribes. So we can take from this evidence that the police were not very loyal or professional and could be easily corrupted. Police also had a lack of understanding of pharisaic science because chief constable Warren said that the police were to take photographs of the eyes of victim Kate Eddowe. This shows the lack of understanding at that time of pharisaic science, which played a part in the Ripper preventing his capture. Another reason for the police to be blamed for not capturing the Ripper is that the person in charge of the CID at that time who was Major Henry Smith. He attacked Warren who was in charge of the Met over the way that he conducted his investigation resulting in the likely possibility that the CID did not co-operate with the Met. Also his report to the home secretary was very vague which suggests that he was keeping material secret. Sources to back this up that that the police did not cooperate with each other is in Source E is when it says a informer on the case was referred from one police officer to another. This source tells us that there was a lack of communication and cooperation in the police force. Therefore resulting in the police not working together to catch the Ripper. At that time there were stupid set rules that the police officers had to obey by. One completely stupid rule they had to obey by was that a officer had to stay at a crime scene with the dead body and weren’t aloud to give chase to the suspect. At the top men in the key posts were not epically able. For example in charge of the Met at that time was Sir Charles Warren. Warren had a military background, which meant that the head of the Met had no criminal mind, which meant he had no idea how to catch an intelligent criminal. Also in charge of the CID was Major Henry Smith who was entered on the force at a senior rank and had never been a constable. This meant that the quality of the CID was not of a good standard. Quality of the constables on the beat had also left a lot to be desired. Police favoured recruiting men from the countryside over requiting men from London. The idea was that they were tougher and less likely to have been corrupted. However the price of this was that some countryside men were very naïve on the busy streets of London. Also they were none to have week literacy skills, which meant they weren’t very bright. This would not be ideal if you were doi...