The Development of Law Enforcement and the Police

Local responsibility before professional policing

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, Britain did not have a nationwide system of professional police forces. Law enforcement depended heavily on local arrangements. Parish constables, generally unpaid local men, dealt with petty offences, while watchmen patrolled towns and cities on foot at night and watched over private property. Magistrates dealt with local legal cases and helped organise law enforcement. These roles continued into the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries: professional policing did not sweep away older arrangements immediately.

The authorities also relied on soldiers when local methods were insufficient. The army could suppress riots, large protests and rebellions, and was used against large smuggling gangs. This was different from everyday policing: soldiers could restore order by force, but were not a substitute for regular patrols and criminal investigation.

These arrangements divided responsibility between local communities and the authorities. Local officers dealt with everyday problems, while government intervention was more likely when disorder became serious.

Why attitudes towards policing changed

As towns and cities grew, existing local arrangements struggled to cope. Growing concern about crime increased pressure for more effective law enforcement. An organised force could patrol regularly, pursue suspects and share information rather than treating each offence as an isolated local problem.

However, a police force was not immediately welcomed. Some people feared that government-controlled policing would restrict their freedom or suppress political protest. People wanted protection from crime without giving the authorities too much power over their lives.

Over time, dissatisfaction with existing arrangements encouraged greater acceptance of police forces. The government's laissez-faire approach—leaving much responsibility to local arrangements—came to seem inadequate. Protection from criminals increasingly became something people expected the authorities to provide, although opposition did not disappear entirely.

Henry and John Fielding: organised officers and shared information

The Fielding brothers were London magistrates who helped develop a more organised approach to law enforcement. In 1749, Henry Fielding established the Bow Street Runners to tackle crime in London. His half-brother John Fielding took over their direction in 1754 and developed their work.

The Runners did more than patrol streets to deter crime. They tracked down criminals, recovered stolen property and found evidence that could help bring offenders to justice. Their work connected prevention with detection: preventing an offence meant discouraging it beforehand, while detecting it meant finding out who had committed it afterwards.

They also shared information about crimes and suspects. This mattered because an offender could move between areas; information sharing made it harder to escape simply by leaving the place where a crime had occurred. It helped create a crime intelligence network rather than relying only on what one local officer knew.

Henry kept crime records, advertised for help from local people and sent lists of stolen property to pawnbrokers and innkeepers. These people might encounter stolen goods or suspects, so their cooperation could provide useful evidence. His Covent-Garden Journal, established in 1752, also publicised crime information.

John extended this approach. His Quarterly Pursuit, published from 1772, circulated information about crimes and criminals. After his death, the publication developed into the weekly Public Hue and Cry in 1786. He also secured government funding for a mounted Bow Street patrol. Officers on horseback extended patrol work beyond officers travelling on foot. However, the government rejected his proposal to divide London into six policing areas managed by paid magistrates: reform was still gradual and contested.

The Runners were initially volunteers, then received fees and rewards for their work. Eventually, the government paid them directly. This movement towards public funding helped establish the principle that organised law enforcement was a responsibility of the authorities, rather than simply a service paid for by individuals.

Peel and the Metropolitan Police, 1829

The Bow Street Runners were an important development in London, but they were not a national police force. A larger change came in 1829, when Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel secured the establishment of the Metropolitan Police in London.

The new force employed paid, full-time officers and had its headquarters at Scotland Yard. London was divided into policing divisions, and constables patrolled regular beats. Regular patrols aimed to prevent crime through a visible police presence, rather than relying only on catching offenders afterwards. Officers became known as ‘Peelers’ or ‘Bobbies’ after Peel.

Peel wanted the police to appear different from the army. Officers wore blue uniforms and civilian-style top hats, carried truncheons and were not routinely equipped with firearms. This distinction mattered because people feared military-style repression, especially after the army's violence against demonstrators at Peterloo in 1819.

Initial hostility was strong, and some officers were attacked. There were also disciplinary problems among recruits. Acceptance grew gradually as regular beat patrols made officers familiar local figures and people increasingly recognised their role in protecting the public. Nevertheless, policing political meetings continued to provoke distrust.

In 1839, the Bow Street organisation and the Thames River Police were absorbed into the Metropolitan Police. London's earlier policing experiments therefore contributed to a larger professional force.

Police forces spread beyond London

Professional policing spread through legislation, but it did not become compulsory everywhere at once.

The Municipal Corporations Act of 1835 extended organised policing in towns and boroughs. The County Police Act of 1839, also called the Rural Police Act, allowed county magistrates to establish paid police forces. However, establishing a county force was optional, so provision remained uneven.

The County and Borough Police Act of 1856 made police forces compulsory throughout England and Wales. Areas could no longer simply choose to continue without one. Government financial support and inspection strengthened oversight: inspectors checked the efficiency of local forces.

Police officers had two connected responsibilities. They patrolled streets to maintain order and prevent crime, and they investigated offences and arrested suspects. Local policing therefore continued, but increasingly through professional forces supervised by the authorities. This was a network of local forces, not a single national police force.

From detectives to the CID

Uniformed patrols were useful for prevention, but investigating serious offences required more focused work. In 1842, the Metropolitan Police established a Detective Branch, whose officers worked in plain clothes.

In 1878, the Criminal Investigation Department, or CID, replaced the Detective Branch. This increased specialisation within policing. Ordinary police officers patrolled London's streets, while detectives concentrated on investigating serious crimes.

Detectives gathered evidence through interviews, witness statements and information from informants. An informant was someone who passed information to the police, potentially helping them identify a suspect or discover what had happened.

The CID continued an approach already visible in the Bow Street Runners: pursuing offenders and gathering information. The change was that specialist investigation now had its own department within an established professional police force. Across the period, policing became more organised, more closely supervised by government and more specialised, while maintaining the older aims of keeping order and catching offenders.