Liverpool policing

What book did William Enfield write and which date and what did it contain_

The History of Liverpool

1773

Boasted about how order and decorum was better preserved in Liverpool than compared to cities with similar sizes

How did Liverpool become a wealthy city by the 18th century?

Played a large role in the Transatlantic slave trade

Also from spoils from privateer ships

Why did Liverpool grow rapidly in the 18th century?

TST

privateering

trade in goods

Give an example of rapid urbanisation in Liverpool?

By 1884, there was 1200 people/acre

Effect of law enforcement on the rich?

They could often avoid prosecution when under alcohol’s influence

i.e. the group of men who avoided manslaughter charges for killing a nightwatchman in Rainford gardens

Effect of law enforcement on the poor?

They tended to take law into their own hands

i.e. In 1802 the shooter of drunk sailors trying to break into a brothel was dragged into the street and beaten to death

Diseases faced by poor

typhoid

typhus

dysentary

1830s cholera

What happened to the Liverpool population between 1801 and 1831?

doubled

3 major roles in crime

thieving

prostitution

gang violence

How many brothels were there erstimated to be in 1836

over 300

How many prostitutes worked at brothels in 1836?

over 1000

Why did women turn to prostitution?

Little job security as the levels of employment depended on the number of ships in port at any given time

As a result women turned to prostitution when there was no legitimate work for them to do to earn money

Why were prostitutes in dangerous places?

Brothels were often linked to gang violence

How much money was annually stolen from Liverpool in 1836

£700,000 a year

How many adult thieves and child thieves were operating in the town?

1000 adult thieve

1200 child thieves 

How did alcohol play a major role in crime?(2)

Crime was often a rebuilt of the excessive drinking of cheap beer or rum

Stemmed from the availability of smuggled rum, which led to disorder

How many public houses were in Liverpool?

400

What incident occured that led to a call for reform?

1777 - Mary Clarke’s badly beaten body was found in the River Mersey

led to a public campaign to raise money to improve policing

When was the Borough Police Force created?

1836

three constabularies in the town

Corporation Constabulary

Night Watch
Dock Watch

problems with the 3 constabularies

ineffective

lacked training

lacked leadership

lacked motivation

Focus of the early Liverpool police towards crime

Catching criminals rather than preventing crime

When was the Liverpool Port and Town Act established and what did it do?

1811

Divided Liverpool into 7 districts

Distribution of policemen after the Liverpool Port and Town Act

1 head constable and 2 assistant constables per district

21 policemen for the town of 100k

What did the Corporation Constabulary do?

organised by town council

Patrolled town streets in the day

Problems with the Corporation Constabulary?

reputation for being lazy, difficult to find and easily bribable

stuck to very narrow patrol routes

often avoided areas of criminal gang activity such as Everton

too few of them to effectively police crime

nowhere to be seen when crimes were committed

What did the Night Watch do?

patrolled the town at night

run by Commissioners of the Watch, scavengers and lamps

Problems with the Night Watch?

not taken seriously by many people

no weapons to challenge armed criminals and

often found to be drunk on duty

could be trapped in their sentry boxes or beaten up by people

What did the Dock Watch do?

patrolled warehouse and landing stages of the docks

controlled by the dock committee

Problems with the Dock Watch?

focused more on preserving goods from being stolen rather than on crimes between people

Didn’t like day/night constables in their territory and would often lock them up in the local bridewell

Who was brought in to help start the process of applying the Met police model to Liverpool?

William Parlour was brought in in 1830 to be Superintendent of the Night Watch

He was told to begin reorganising Liverpool’s constables to make them more effective and disciplined

When was the Municipal Corporations Act passed and what did it do?

1835

Gave town councils a lot more power

One of these powers was the authority to create a Watch Committee to form a police force based off of the met model

Who led the Liverpool council?

John Holmes

When was the vote to establish a Watch Committee to make a unified police force?

Start of 1836

How many of each of the 3 constabularies were there pre - reorganisation by the Watch Committee?

60 corporation constables

166 night watchmen

144 in dock watch

How many of each of the 3 constabularies were taken in by the Watch Committee?

30 corp constables

53 night watchmen

most of the dock constables

In 1836 how many constables were there for how many people after Watch Committee intervention?

300 constables for 240k people

How many constables were there in 1845

700

How many constables were there in 1859

approximately 1000

How many constables were there in 1900

approximately 1800

Who was Michael Whitty and what was his aim

became Head Constable of the New Liverpool Borough Police in 1836

Aimed to reorganise policing in Liverpool like Peel had done in London

How did Whitty reorganise the police force(2)

Divided his forces into 2, a Northern and a Southern division

Aimed to recruit the best constables he could

Difficulties in constable recruitment?(3)

12 hrs a day/7 days a week job was tough

The pay of 18 shillings a week was the same as what dockers who had to work far less hrs were being paid

Police were also expected to work in the fire brigade for decades after 1836

Impacts of whitty’s system

The significant reduction over time of:

discipline problems

excessive violence

drunkenness

How did the intro of John Bower as H constable in 1881 increase reputation and effectiveness of the force?

Increased educational programs to ensure more officers were increasingly literate

officers now didn’t have to work 7 days a week

Compare constables in Liverpool compared to other cities.

In 1868 liverpool had more veteran constables than most other forces including manchester

Rules for police recruits in 1836(4)

must be 22-35 years old

must be able to read and write

must be 5 foot 8

must learn the 800 points of rules and law in the new Book of Instructions introduced by Whitty

Equipment given to recruits

truncheon

whistle

rattle

Change in focus in crime of new police force?

Increase in preventative policing

Examples of disciplinary improvement

As early as 1839 the Watch committee was reporting significant improvement in police behaviour

When and what was the Police Act

1836

forces had to pass gov inspection to get their funding

When was Liverpool police inspected and what were the results?

1857

was praised as ‘the model Force in the kingdom‘

When was the Detective unit first described?

1844

What was the Detective Unit?

11 detectives in plain clothes worked to find and capture criminals

Who could apply to be a detective?

Only first class constables

Attitudes to detectives(2)

People were suspicious of them afraid they were being spied upon

Pub landlords didn’t like the possibility of interference in their business

When were detectives fully integrated into the police force?

1881

When was the River Police established?

1865

Why was the River Police established and what was their focus?

to deal with crime around the docks and harbours as well as on the River Mersey

focus was on maintaining cargo security and monitoring the behaviour of sailors

Number of units of the River Police

20

When was the Mounted Police and transport Department founded?

1886

What was the Mounted Police and transport Department comprised of?

specially trained officers and horses

initially headed by a cavalry officer from the army

How many horses did the Mounted Police and transport Department have by 1896

36

When and why were Park Keepers introduced

1865

As town police couldn’t enter public parks due to the 1835 MCA stating that public parks were private council property

When was the Parks Police Division officially founded?

1882

Give a statistic showing Liverpool levels of crime as a whole?

In 1838, 1/16 people in Liverpool had been charged with a crime

Why were private police forces established?

a number of businesses felt they couldn’t rely on the old parish constables and nightwatchmen

When and why were Market Constables employed?

from 1837

to protect traders and shoppers by focusing on crime within market premises

When did the Liverpool Manchester Railway Company finish its line, when did it open and what did they do upon opening?

finished in 1829

opened in 1830

established its own police force

Attitudes to the railway police force?

Robert Peel praised the way the force had kept order

Job of railway policemen:

to protect passengers and railway line and stock

What merge happened concerning railways?

1834

Liverpool and Manchester Police joined up with other railway police forces to become the Grand Junction railway police

Why was the Leeds Liverpool Canal Force created?

1840 Canal Offences Act said that companies had to take action to keep peace on canals

What did the Leeds Liverpool Canal Force do?

patrolled the canal to prevent robberies, catch thieves and stop people misusing the area around the canal including the towpath and thefts had to be reported to the superintendent

How did the watch committee experiment with officer numbers

In 1898 they experimented with 100 fewer officers and made the change permanent the year after?

Why is Liverpool policing significant?

Shows how rapid industrial growth can create major challenges in policing

Shows how the improvements of Liverpool policing led to the decrease of crime