How would YOU catch the Ripper?

[Fisherman]

But I'd stake out each of them, probably from Tabram to Coles.

Then I would think that you may find yourself more than one killer, GUT...!

The best,
Fisherman

[GUT]

G'day Fisherman

But I'd stake out each of them, probably from Tabram to Coles.

[Fisherman]

In seriousness though we know when each murder happened, or close to, and where so it would be as simple as a stake out.

But we are not totally sure who the killer was on each occasion, so therefore we would need to choose the one most typical strike, the archaic Ripper killing so to speak: Chapman.

Before Lynn congratulates me on this, I hasten to add that my own personal belief is that there was just the one Ripper!

The best,
Fisherman

[GUT]

In seriousness though we know when each murder happened, or close to, and where so it would be as simple as a stake out.

[GUT]

G'day Bolo

Probably as helpful as Mr Peabody's mousetrap.

[bolo]

I get it the old time space continuum conundrum.

Yeah. Which of course is a really helpful addition to a thread like this.

Rhaa, rhaa, reality, rhaa, rhaa.

[GUT]

G'day Robert

Ah, well if it's one of those time travel threads then I guess my answer is that you won't be able to catch him or stop him. If you could, you would expunge the Ripper mystery, which means that you wouldn't be making the trip in the first place. If you can, then you can't. Therefore you can't.

I get it the old time space continuum conundrum.

[bolo]

Therefore you can't.

I could. My beer belly alone could defy time and space.

[Robert]

Ah, well if it's one of those time travel threads then I guess my answer is that you won't be able to catch him or stop him. If you could, you would expunge the Ripper mystery, which means that you wouldn't be making the trip in the first place. If you can, then you can't. Therefore you can't.

[GUT]

Well if I used the "Wayback Machine" I'd get Mr Sherman involved.

He would probably build a couple of big mouse traps and bait them with a couple of unfortunates [after all they were disposable] along comes our Jacks and job done.

[bolo]

I wouldn't try to catch him red-handed but rather hide myself in the shadows near one of the crime scenes with a sniper rifle and night-vision gunsight (provided said wayback machine would allow me to take these items with me), and then... BAM, no more ripping and no more casebook.org...

Seriously though, of course my aim would be to catch him before he even starts the series of killings. I'd try to get back to 1888 a few weeks before the attack on Polly, check out the area around Buck's Row and position a few trustworthy men there, shouldn't be too difficult to catch him that way.

Man... I'd really, and I mean REALLY love to lock myself in a dark room with him. Oh the fun we would have...

[pinkmoon]

I would not be able to catch the ripper because a requirement from an individual to do so would require a lot of courage as I am a fully certified coward who comes from a long line of cowards I could not possibly join in the hunt.

[Errata]

Put men on the rooftops in secret. People never look up. I am constantly amazed at what people do when no one is around them horizontally, but 10 feet away vertically.

[Robert]

I think there were things that the police could have done better, though whether that would have led to the killer's capture is debatable. Re the prostitutes, the police may for all I know have had contacts among the prostitutes, but I think I should add to what I said before, and suggest that these prostitutes should have reported to a woman - some woman recruited by the police who could sift the info and pass on the best bets to the investigating officers. Inevitably the prostitutes would have supplied a mix of gossip, intuition, astute observation and malicious score-settling, and it really takes a woman to sort through that lot and know what's worth keeping.

[Wickerman]

If women had been viewed as capable the police would have used them, instead it was deemed necessary to dress men up as women.
Women were not considered for police duties until the First World War.

I wouldn't do any better than the police.

Even at that, we only know a little of what the police did through the press. I'm sure they applied more imaginative thinking to this problem than we have learned about.

At which point would you try to catch Jack red-handed? How would your own theory of the canonical victims factor into things?

We don't even know if he killed all five, or even more than five. We are not sure what he looked like, no idea why he struck when he did, not a clue where he lived.
If he could have been caught at all it would have been by pure luck, just like Sutcliffe.