Section D: the organisation of policing in Whitechapel 

The role of H Division 

3. The division of the Metropolitan Police responsible for the Whitechapel district of London was H Division.  

4. The division was run by a superintendent and a chief inspector, with 27 inspectors and 37 sergeants. There were also around 500 constables who went out on the beat, and 15 detectives.  

5. Because they were overstretched and understaffed, H Division would turn a blind eye to fights and criminality in some instances.  

6. Sometimes H Division also carried out social tasks like conducting people to work houses and hosting soup kitchens.  

The difficulties of policing Whitechapel 

1. High levels of poverty and unemployment meant crime levels were high in Whitechapel.  

2. There were also practical difficulties involved in policing rookeries, and pursuing criminals around narrow alleyways and courts with poor lighting and multiple entrances and exits.  

3. Prostitution was common, and, although it was not illegal, it was seen as a social problem that needed to be monitored. By 1888 it was estimated that there were 62 brothels in Whitechapel and 1,200 prostitutes. Women who became prostitutes were vulnerable to assault and rape.  

4. With no reliable contraception available, abortions were also common. These were illegal, but police turned a blind eye. They were performed in bad conditions that meant many women died from infection or surgical shock.  

5. Alcoholism was common, and gin was cheap. In just one mile of the Whitechapel Road there were 45 buildings serving as pubs or gin palaces.  

6. There were also a number of opium dens.  

7. Some of the violence in Whitechapel was stirred up by gangs like the Bessarabian Tigers and the Odessians, both made up of immigrants from Eastern Europe.  

8. These gangs would run protection rackets: demanding money from small business owners, and smashing up the shops or market stall of anyone who refused.  

9. Ordinary people were afraid to report gang members to the police, and this made it very difficult to gather enough evidence to arrest them.  

The Whitechapel Vigilance Committee 

1. When local residents became frustrated by the police’s failure to solve the Jack the Ripper murders, a group of Whitechapel businessmen and traders set up the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee on 10 September 1888.  

2. They were particularly frustrated by the refusal of the Home Secretary, Henry Matthews, to offer financial rewards for the murderer’s arrest. So they organised their own reward system.  

3. They also took to the streets at night, armed with burning planks for woods, whistles, and hob nailed boots, trying to make as much noise as possible.  

4. Some historians think the Committee secretly supported the SDF, and were deliberately trying to undermine the police.