How the police tried to catch the Ripper?

[Peachz]

Hi, i'm currently doing my GCSE Modern World History coursework and one of my questions is, "How did the police force attempt to stop Jack the Ripper?"

I'm looking for some answers to certain questions they don't have to be exact figure but more estimates of around how many were sent/used.

How many more officers were deployed during the murders?
When were they sent? (after which murders.)
How many handbills were sent out?
Where were they sent to? (which parts of Whitechapel? around the 1 mile radius or further afield.)
They interviewed people at the docks, where these effective?
Were the decoys effective?

I know that they used certain techniques such as,
~Decoys - dressing up policemen as women to try and trick the Ripper.
~More Officers - more officers on duty around Whitechapel, interrogating every suspect etc.
~Blood hounds - trained dogs to pick up the scent of the Ripper.
~House to house interviews - over 2000 lodgers interviewed.

Any help on this matter is highly appreciated. Or if you could point me towards the appropriate document on a website or on this one, that too is appreciated.

Thanks.

* I was unsure about where this was to go, so if someone could move it to the appropriate section thats good also.

[Limehouse]

Hi Peachz,

Glad to see you are making an early start on your GCSE coursework (hopefully it's not last year's coursework!).

I think that you definitely need to get hold of a decent JtR book - one that will furnish you with the answers you need and will be a handy reference source for further study. There is a books thread on this site and I can particularly recommend Jack the Ripper A-Z (Phillip Sugden et al) and The Complete Jack The Ripper (Donald Rumbelow).

Although websites are excellent sources of information, you should certainly widen your research techniques to include books, periodicals and perhaps even some primary sources (but these may be difficult for you to access). A really brilliant way to get a feel for what was going on at the time of the murders is to look through newspaper reports of the time. These are often available on microfilm at you local library. Old copies of The Times are a particularly good source and so interesting to read. remember to keep a list of all your sources and include it in a bibliography.

Good luck to you.

[Mike Covell]

Hi Peachz, welcome to casebook, and good luck with your work.
I would highly recommend "Jack the Ripper-Scotland Yard Investigates" by Donald Rumbelow and Stewart P Evans. If it's not available at your local library, ask them to get a copy on "Inter Library Loan", it's a fantastic book, full of information on the case, from the Police Officials stand point.

Take a look on the message boards further down the main page under "Police Officials" as there are some little gems in there.

I would also look at the sections on the side of the page under, "Police Officials", "Timelines" and "Dissertations"

Good luck once again.

[Peachz]

Thank you. I looked over the internet and managed to find some of the things I was looking for. I'll ask our teacher tomorrow on the stuff I haven't got. We started it last year but we haven't finished it just yet !

~Regards, Peachz.

[brummie]

Without piling on too much reading to do one book you might find useful is "The Ultimate Jack The Ripper Source Book" by Stewart Evans & Keith Skinner which is basically a collection of all the existing police records and witness statements (including details of expenditure on extra policing in Whitechapel), together with press reports and inquest records.