What SHOULD the police have done?

[Monty]

Are talking in 1888 reality or 2009. Cos there is a difference.

Monty

[Pontius2000]

1. they should have taken more victim photos, including crime scene photos.

2. they should have photograped the grafitti and it's relation to the location of where the apron was found.

3. they should have held back most information from the press.

4. they should not have given the press any of the letters and should not have had the press to post copies of the Dear Boss letters in newspapers.

5. they wasted a lot of energy doing door-to-door interviews. they would have been better off knowing the alibis of everyone working in the meat trade and the areas surrounding the Tabram, Nichols, and Chapman murders.

6. they should have made a better effort of finding James Kelly for no other reason than to rule him out as a suspect. and years later when he made himself available, they should have interviewed him.

7. once the "Polish Jew" was indeed locked in an asylum, they should have gotten access to him to either find out if he was the killer or exclude him as a suspect.

8. they should have made some effort to locate Joseph Fleming.

and lastly, off the top of my head, when McNaughton published a book stating that he destroyed evidence pertaining to Druitt's guilt, he should have been prosecuted.

other than that, I think the police did mostly what they were capable of doing. it seems to me that the City Police were a lot more capable and knowledgable than the Met. at least they seemed to understand the importance of photographs.

[Sox]

Given that, even with all the methods available to modern police forces, serial killers still escape or take years to bring to justice, then the simple answer to your question is: nothing beyond what they actually did do.

[corey123]

Hello Phil,

I would do what they did. However I would have taken photos of all the crime scenes and of the GsG. I would have set up a profile of the killer(If my 1888 self knows how to profile) so that could help stop the killer. I would let all the divisonal detectives know what would most likely happen after each murder and I myself would patrole near "Ripper spots"(again if my 1888 version self knew the hotspots). If I did not. I would send undercover constables to find out where prostitutes did their service, places like No. 29 Hanbury st. and Dutfields yard. I would have all the partols present 24-7(switching during hourly intervals).

Yours truly

p.s I would also forbid Dr.Lewellyn to work on the case.

[Phil Carter]

Hello all,

The police didn't catch Jack the Ripper. In one way or another, thousands afterwards have tried to catch him. So what should the police have done that they didn't do to catch him? Given that we cannot do anything that was not possible at the time. What strategy? What ideas would you have if YOU were the man in charge ?(No, you don't have to have a personality like Anderson by the way). What would YOU have put in place or into practice?

I look forward to the variation in answers!

best wishes

Phil