The first professional police force in the United Kingdom, funded by local taxation, was set up in Glasgow, Scotland in 1800.
At the time, the City of Glasgow police undertook more duties than modern police, including fire fighting.
The first professional policemen, in England, known as ‘Peelers’ or ‘Bobbies’, were set up in London in 1829 by Robert Peel, the then Home Secretary, after ‘The Metropolitan Police Act’ of 1829.
Before Peel’s 1829 reforms, public order had been maintained by a mix of night watchmen, local constables and red-coat-wearing army soldiers, who were deployed as much to quell political troubles as to deal with local crime.
In creating London’s Metropolitan Police (headquartered on a short street called Scotland Yard), Peel sought to create a professionalized law enforcement corps that was as accountable to everyday citizens as to the ruling classes.
When Peel’s opponents complained that the creation of the new police force would restrict personal liberties, Peel responded, “I want to teach people that liberty does not consist in having your house robbed by organized gangs of thieves, and in leaving the principal streets of London in the nightly possession of drunken women and vagabonds.”
Working conditions for the people of England during the 19th century were terrible. Children were expected to be in the cotton mills by 3 AM and work until 10 PM with no more than an hour in all for mealtime breaks.
In normal times they worked from 6 AM to 8:30 PM, 6 days a week for a total weekly wage of 3 schillings.Other women and children were reported as having to crawl half naked through narrow shafts of ill ventilated mines.
An apprentice brick-layer might have 14 hours days and expect punishment with a strap if they were slow.
Thousands of workers in Liverpool and Manchester worked in unventilated cellars. Often these towns lacked paved streets, sewers, or garbage collectors.
The average diet was limited to bread, tea, sugar, and beer supplemented with potatoes, cheese, turnips, beans, and cabbage.
Needless to say, crime ran rampant through the streets and protests were common.
But Instead of the resented government red coats, Robert Peel’s patrolmen wore black jackets and tall wool hats with shiny badges.
They went out armed only with a short club and a whistle for summoning backup, walking regular beats and working to gain the trust of the local citizens.
Robert Peel’s system was a success, and by the mid-19th century large American cities had created similar police forces.
In London, the policemen were so identified with Peel who created them that they were referred to as “Peelers” or—more memorably—“Bobbies,” after the popular nickname for Robert.
It was the start of a campaign to improve public law. At that time, there was distrust of the police at all levels.
By September of 1829, the first Metropolitan Police were patrolling the streets of London. There were 17 divisions, which had 4 inspectors and 144 constables each.
The force headquarters was Scotland Yard, and it answered to the Home Secretary.
As I said earlier, ‘Peelers’ wore a long blue coats and strengthened tall hats, which protected them from blows to the head and they could use them to stand on to look over walls.
Their only weapon was a truncheon, a short heavy club, although they also carried a whistle to raise an alarm.
At first, the quality of officers was poor. Of the first 2,800 new policemen, only 600 eventually kept their jobs.
The first Metropolitan policeman (who was given the number 1), was fired after only four hours, for drunkenness. Things eventually settled down.
Despite rising crime levels, most counties retained their Parish Constable.
Many people were concerned about the idea of a uniformed force and feared that the police would be used to arrest opponents of the government, stop protests and destroy free speech.
The Municipal Corporations Act of 1835, allowed Borough Councils to organize a police force but few of them seemed eager to implement the law. By 1837, only 93 out of 171 boroughs had organized a police force.
The Rural Constabulary Act of 1839, allowed any of the 54 English Counties to raise and equip a paid police force.
The Act permitted judges to appoint Chief Constables, for the direction of the police in their areas and allowed for one policeman per 1,000 population.
In the 1840s, there was still a great disparity between different areas of the country with no single style of policing.
By that time, only 108 out of 171 boroughs had police forces. Then, in 1842, a new Parish Constables Act was passed in response to the political unrest.
The appointed parish constables were part time and poorly paid – sometimes unpaid, so posts attracted a low caliber of persons, who were not prepared to risk life and limb to arrest anyone.
By 1848 there were still 22 boroughs that did not have a police force and, in 1850, only 36 counties that did.
In 1855, there were still only 12,000 policemen in all of England and Wales. This was despite the fact that the police force in London was proving effective in reducing crime and increasing detection.
The 1856 Police Act saw a system for government inspection, audit and regulation for the first time. This County Borough Police Act now forced the whole of the country to set up police forces. The legislation:
• Obliged the counties to organize police forces, subject to government control
• Devised a system of inspection already in use in factories, workhouses and education
• Made grants dependent on efficiency.
• Shifted the emphasis from the prevention of crime to its detection.
This act saw the start of the Modern Police Service in England and Wales. 239 forces were set up, still with great variations in pay and conditions; only half of them were found to be efficient.
Similarly, the General Police Act (Scotland) 1857 required each Scottish county and burgh to set up a police force.
In 1869, the National Criminal Record was set up, which made use of the new, rapid telegraph communications between forces and in 1877 the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) was formed with 200 detectives; 600 more were added in 1883.
By the start of the 19th century, there was increasing support for the concept of a professional, state-funded, full-time police force.
Robert Peel, supported the idea of the Government taking responsibility for organizing policing. However, the idea was still very controversial.
Peel had argued that because the crime rate was rising, especially in the industrial towns and in London, a change in policing was needed.
People were increasingly aware that most of the existing methods of catching criminals were not effective, particularly in the light of the massive industrial, agricultural and population changes at the time.
The growth of popular protest convinced many that a professional police force was required.
However, many people were opposed to the idea of a state-run police force as they believed it would threaten freedom.
People thought the Government would use the police force to force people to do what they wanted. This had been seen in other European countries.
People thought the police would be busy-bodies and would pry into people’s business. However, the main opposition was the increased tax that would be required to pay for the police force.
Back in 1829 the Metropolitan Police Act had set up the Metropolitan Police Force in central London. Two commissioners were appointed to set up and run the new police force.
3,200 men were recruited to be full-time, trained and paid policemen. Many of the new Constables were ex-soldiers. Numbers quickly grew and by 1882 there were 11,700 men in the London Metropolitan Police.
It was the success of the Metropolitan Police that led to the idea of a police force being extended within London and across the whole of England and Wales.
Each new area set up their own force on the same lines as the London Metropolitan Police.
At first all of the new police forces consisted of ordinary constables and inspectors. Constables were expected to be young men, over 5’7” tall and be able to read and write.
Early Victorian police worked seven days a week, with only five days unpaid holiday a year for which they received the grand sum of £1 per week.
Their lives were strictly controlled; they were not allowed to vote in elections and required permission to get married and even to share a meal with a civilian.
To allay the public’s suspicion of being spied upon, officers were required to wear their uniforms both on and off duty.
As I said. they worked seven days a week and spent their time ‘walking the beat’ – a set patrol area on foot.
At first there was a lot of opposition to the new police forces, especially in poorer, working class areas, such as the East End of London.
Across the country there was resentment over the increased taxation required to fund the police.
In some slum areas the police still had difficulties winning over the local population. It was only in the 1850s that certain areas were able to be regularly patrolled by officers.
Now Peel came up with a set of 9 Principles by which to describe the duties and expectations demanded of a policeman on his force.
Perhaps these would be a good starting point for negotiations in dealing with the current conflict between law enforcement and the protestors in our urban areas.
Sir Robert Peel’s Nine Principles:
1. The basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder.
2. The ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon public approval of police actions.
3. Police must secure the willing co-operation of the public in voluntary observance of the law to be able to secure and maintain the respect of the public.
4. The degree of co-operation of the public that can be secured diminishes proportionately to the necessity of the use of physical force.
5. Police seek and preserve public favor not by catering to public opinion but by constantly demonstrating absolute impartial service to the law.
6. Police use physical force to the extent necessary to secure observance of the law or to restore order only when the exercise of persuasion, advice and warning is found to be insufficient.
7. Police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.
8. Police should always direct their action strictly towards their functions and never appear to usurp the powers of the judiciary.
9. The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with it.
Pretty good ideas if you ask me.
In spite of the huge success of his ‘Bobbies’, Peel was not a well liked man.
Queen Victoria is said to have found him ‘a cold, unfeeling, disagreeable man’. They had many personal conflicts over the years, and when he spoke against awarding her son, Prince Albert, an annual income of £50,000, he did little to endear himself to the Queen.
Although Peel was a skilful politician, he had very few social graces and had a reserved, off-putting manner.
After a long and distinguished career, Sir Robert came to an unfortunate end …he was thrown from his horse while riding on Constitution Hill in London on June 29th,1850, and died three days later.
His legacy remains however as long as the British ‘Bobbies’ patrol the streets and keep the population safe from wrong-doers …and help lost tourists find their way back to the comfort of their hotels.
So there you have it folks. History repeats itself. As we try to find solutions for our current conflicts, should we look to the past for answers or simply ignore the success of Sir Robert Peel?