“The police investigative methods were to blame for not capturing Jack the Ripper” To what extent do you do you agree with this statement.
In this essay I will be giving my opinion on the following statement, “The police investigative methods were to blame for not capturing Jack the Ripper.” Personally I feel that it was the police’s fault as they, I feel, did not do everything in their power to try and catch Jack the Ripper and most importantly they let the media get under their skin and began to take notice of what was published and actually let the media affect them. The media were very bad for the investigation as they mounted more and more pressure on the police and ultimately this led to the police not doing all they could to catch the killer.
I think that one of the most important reasons that the police failed to catch Jack the Ripper was that the media almost took control of the investigation in some respects and made out that the police were doing a poor job. One particular case of this that stands out to me is the fact that the police didn’t use bloodhounds in the investigation. Bloodhounds have a very sensitive nose and can trace scents back to people very easily, with the use of bloodhounds Jack the Ripper could easily of been caught. The police were ready to use bloodhounds until the media ridiculed them, the press claimed they couldn’t do their own jobs and had to rely on animals. Others claimed they were getting desperate and panicking. Eventually the police decided against the use of bloodhounds, even though they had been tested to be successful. A spokesman for the police said “If there was an accident from the dogs attacking a person there would be a great outcry” (Casebook.org).
The Essay on Why Was Jack the Ripper Never Caught
Jack the Ripper was a notorious serial killer, whom some believe never even existed at all. He was the first successful serial killer and no one knew the identity of Jack the ripper. He had great hatred of prostitute’s . Jack the Ripper is just a name given to an unidentified late 19th century murderer. No one actually knows who this person was or where he came from. Jack the Ripper targeted ...
This I feel was a blatant attempt by the police to hide the fact they had been bullied and humiliated by the media. Another incident in which the media have tried and successfully influenced the police was with the accusations made against a man nicknamed “Leather Apron” as he wore a leather apron to work. The media claimed it was him after the police were given a tip by doctors that the killer had anatomical knowledge. Casebook.org states that “76 butchers and slaughterers were questioned” This shows that the police believed the doctors’ advice. The media then claimed that it was the Leather Apron as there was “A piece of Leather Apron” (Definitive story of Jack the Ripper documentary) found at one of the crime scenes. People believe that the media chose the Leather Apron as it was what a lot of the public believed. Leather Apron was arrested by the police and took in for questioning, he had numerous alibis and more murders happened when he was in custardy. Again the media did no good for the police as they wasted police time and they could have been doing more investigating than interviewing a man who had enough evidence to prove he was innocent. Some people may argue that it is hard for the police to ignore the media when they are so popular and mount so much pressure on them, but I feel that the police should be more professional and just do the job in hand the best they can, rather than letting others influence them.
Some people may argue that the police were trying the best they could to catch the killer and one thing that could show this is the decision to call in their best detective at the time, Inspector Frederick Abberline. Abberline was the best that the CID had. Abberline “knew the area well” (Jack the Ripper, an Encyclopaedia).
This shows again that the police were doing all they could. However, some people claimed that Abberline was an alcoholic and was highly unprofessional due to his problem (Jack the Ripper DVD, Michael Caine version).
The Essay on The Inner Evil Jack Macbeth People
Since the beginning of time, people have pondered the existence of evil. What makes people laugh at other peoples mistakes What makes a little kid relentlessly pick on the outcast What fuels the hate that people have for each other Everyone has their individual views and answers to these questions, and their own definition of evil. Evil is an entity inside every living being in the world ...
The media again got involved and ridiculed Abberline for this, claiming that an alcoholic was the best they had. To me this shows that even the police’s best detective was an alcoholic and also unprofessional. Another argument in favour of the police is the fact that they did not have the technology we have today and if they would of even a little bit of today technology, for example, fingerprinting or DNA testing then arguably the killer would have been caught very quickly. However, I feel that this was just unfortunate, as the methods were not developed enough. Having said that, the police would not have known any different, so they should have been able to adapt to the fact that they didn’t have sufficient technology.
Another factor that stopped the police catching the killer was the police themselves. The CID were set up in 1878, 69 years after the police were, so both of them had not been around for long. The CID wore normal clothes and were paid a little more than the normal police. The normal police were perhaps a little bitter about this and a small rivalry began. In “Jack the Ripper” the Michael Caine version of the DVD, a police chief asked a CID member if they have “come to show us how to do our jobs?” This shows that the two forces did not get on and the two forces did not share information with each other. This is, quite frankly, immature and the two forces could have worked together and maybe even caught the killer. However, in defence of the police, it could have been impossible to catch the killer if there was more than one killer. Some people believe that the 5 women “Jack the Ripper” killed were killed by different people. “The definitive story of Jack the Ripper” shows that there were “no mutilations” on Catherine Eddows body, suggesting it could have been a different killer. However, the women were all killed in a very similar way. They all had their throats cut, this could suggest that the killer was interrupted when murdering Catherine Eddows and didn’t mutilate her body. I feel this is most likely the case.
To conclude, I feel that the police were to blame for Jack the Ripper never being caught as they did not use all the methods available to them at the time and instead let other factors distract them, like the media, and also squabbled with each other like they were children rather than focusing on catching the killer. The met police website claims that “They may have failed, but they failed honourably, having made every effort” (www.met.police.uk).
The Term Paper on Police Use of Force
Police use of force is a tool that is taught to every Officer to help diffuses a situation, it is not meant to do harm, but to ensure the safety of the Officer and the people that are involved in the situation. In some rare cases there are Officers that abuse their power and with the use of excessive use of force on individuals is an issue, Officers not thinking of what the effects it has on the ...
I disagree with this as they didn’t make every effort. They could have used blood hounds and not wasted time interviewing an innocent man for the sake of making the media and public happy. On top of this the failure was not “honourable” as the two police forces were more interested in getting one over each other than catching the killer.
George Woodall
