3/12/2012 4:11:00 AM Most villages of a decent size had two constables, didnt have a salary but did get

paid expenses Sometimes this could be quite a lot if they were thought to need horses Also they could be given rewards if they were caught and tried o i.e. Highway robbery could collect up to 40 this reward could be divided up between people but constables tended to be the ones who often took some The Watch Could well be fragmented Those that kept the best records were often the most efficient system In Shoreditch for example most of the watchmen were of normal service age none were too old or too young Being a constable could be seen as one of the first rungs on the start of a political career The patrol routes were very small o This does mean that the watchmen knew their areas very well and those who frequented it o However everyone expected to have a watchman come across their property roughly once an hour o Most watch-boxes were in sight of each other in well organised parishes, as such watchmen would know that there was something wrong if they did not see the other watchmen They also provided wake up calls for a small fee on the side o This was a complaint often associated with the watchmen

The Magistrates In the countryside they were often well respected members of the local community, had to be a gentleman o They brought their rents from land ownership from other people In the cities they could be lawyers, military officers etc. they did not necessarily own land etc. Could also be businessmen but normally not something they were still involved in i.e. Bankers etc.

o i.e. In Norwich they often had been manufacturers of textiles if you were a rural magistrate it would often not interfere with your normal lifestyle o most of the time spent by the magistrates seemed to be spent hunting o in summer, magistrates would often go to London as Parliament sat they attended balls in London etc. in order to network and find suitable partners for their children There was a general discouragement to contact justices in rural communities Could spend the majority of the day walking to where the Justice lived only to find that they werent there o This was not the case in the towns and it meant that in towns there was a far greater degree of interference in the everyday activities of justices because they were petitioned more often However, due to the landowning nature of the rural magistrates their decisions were often upheld because they were normally the employer, landlord or both of those in question o This was not the same in the urban environment due to lack of land ownership In cities there were a great amount of lawyers, this produced a society of litigation with a no win no fee set up Due to the nature of the urban environment, cities relied on the immigration of poor, young and unskilled worker. o These people had aspirations of upward mobility who often disliked the social community of the small villages Underdeveloped sense of social hierarchy The result of this was that there was too much court activity in the urban environments and magistrates were often accused of simply trying to make money from the amount of prosecutions etc. Policing Ireland had a professional magistracy (stipendiary magistracy) they had a stipend (form of salary) paid by the home office. They were considered politically as well as legally reliable

in Ireland they had a national constabulary much like a gendarmerie under the control of central government o The vast majority of the constables were not locals, they were almost exclusively Presbyterian protestants o The make up of this was mainly due to the association of Ireland with France Policing in England was done under local government, the state did not interfere o Neither did it look after education, social welfare or roads. All done on a local level

Police Reforms The Watch was paid for by rates o Local taxation based on property i.e. someone who ran a large inn would probably pay more than someone who had a very nice house some did not pay any rates at all because their housing fell below the floor level for rates the principle payers to the rates were the middling people didnt pay as much as the rich but there

were a lot more of them. The control by local government meant that there was an ability to control the amount of watchmen on the beat there could be less in the summer for example The NEW Metropolitan police was paid for in the same way o However, in the new system they had no effective control because it was now under control of the Home Office and not the parish level. o Much more expensive as well Mainly because they principally patrolled during the day At night, there are suggestions that no more than 20% of police were patrolling at night time. However, before the Met most people were concerned about night time offences o BUT once you have a regular police force it is possible to make more demands on it than you could a local one. Trouble makers could now be moved on

The more order there is the greater the demand for

order The City was not part of the Metropolitan area Places such as Ealing argued they were paying almost three times as much but never saw a constable compared to before. o As such they paid the Met rates and also employed their own constables as well A common complaint of the gentry and the middling were they had lost political control

New Constables Lived in section houses (bit like barracks) o No ex-watchmen were recruited into the new constabulary They were obliged to wear their uniforms whether on duty or not, in practise this meant they were always on duty They were prohibited from discussions with anyone (including other constables) unless it was on business Often had to do drills as well o These characteristics meant that many thought the new constabulary was linked to the army o Also most were from the countryside, Scotland or Ireland there was a prejudice against rural officers and a clear prejudice against the Scots and Irish Very high turnover of constables in the first few years, drink related offences as well as accusations of associations with prostitutes resulted in many dismissals. Outside of central government most of the population was hostile to the creation of the new Met police force. o Quite soon local gentry discovered that the police were not going to oppress them however, learnt they could generate leeway with the new constables. o Also over the next half a century, most of the middling people cam to terms with the cost of the new system simply because they had a greater level of presence and powers. o The poorer classes tended to be more hostile Some argue that around the turn of the 20th century some poorer classes favoured the Met police

However, there is no distinct evidence of this

Look at Philips identifies strands Radcinovicz Emsley just a general reader Ryner concerned with policing by consent etc

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3/12/2012 4:11:00 AM