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Were the police to blame for not capturing Jack the Ripper
At the time of the Jack the Ripper murders, the police forces of London were inefficient and traditional. This lead to the Police force's mishandling of the Jack the Ripper case and in this respect; they were responsible for not capturing Jack. However it is also possible to say, that due to a lack of technology and funding as well the harsh conditions in Whitechapel at the time, the Police were facing a case that they could not crack.
In some ways the police force were not to blame for not capturing Jack the Ripper because of the harsh conditions that they had to work in. A newspaper article describes the streets of Whitechapel as "containing some headquarters of infamy" and "The sights and sounds are an apocalypse of evil" This gives a very negative image of the streets of Whitechapel and leads us to feel sympathetic towards the Police because they had to work in these conditions. The conditions would also affect a policeman's efficiency and make him less alert. The conditions can also explain why Jack could get away so easily. Because the Ripper wore a "dark coat", he may have been able to camouflage into the dark surroundings, described -"The main thoroughfares of Whitechapel are connected by a network of narrow, dark and crooked lanes”-. This is also shown in a map where the roads are very close together. This may have made it nearly impossible for the police to catch Jack the Ripper. The narrow winding streets and alleyways also made hard for the police to trace Jack and made Jack's escape much more efficient that it would be on a busy, congested main road. This difficulty was made even worse by the fact there was no tram system in Whitechapel so it would have been hard for the police to get around quickly and to swiftly visit places where Jack the Ripper may have been.
The technology available at the time was also a big factor in understanding why it was nearly impossible for the Police to catch Jack the Ripper. At the time, there was separation and competition between various police forces across London, so information was not shared. This was also provoked by the lack of computers. This meant that vital evidence was not shared so an individual police force could not catch Jack by themselves. Lack of technology also extended to detective work, which was still primitive at the time. Without any forensic evidence, there were no clues as to who the Ripper was and he was therefore impossible to catch. We can see that there is a lack of technology from this quote, where the journalist for the Times says that the only way that the police can only catch Jack was "red handed", and not actually to solve the case in a contemporary manner, "some accidental circumstance will lead to a trace…" This statement led to operations where police officers attempted to dress as prostitutes to catch Jack "red handed". These failed to [next page]