Police NET !

[milchmanuk]

hi
this came to mind recently answering myself ? would you Adam & Eve it /
really would like to know what the police net actually was and consists of in man power and tactics they employed to catch JTR.
i read this in perhaps Philip Sugdens book recently or here in thread, officials disbelief JTR had got through there NET, i presume a spiders web of bobby's at least.

reseason being is to think more on the killer having local knowledge or part or full time resident.
thanks

[Wickerman]

I'm not sure why anyone would use the term 'police net', there was nothing I know of that may be so described.

That said, sometime in Sept. 1888, following the Chapman murder, there was a house-to-house investigation conducted across Whitechapel. The geographical limits are given, I mean the street names, from north to south, and east to west, it was a wide police 'net' I suppose, or at least the nearest activity I can think of to answer your question.
We can dig it up if that is what you are thinking of, but it was a one-off occurrence. There were other house-to-house investigations, but of a smaller nature, one following the Stride murder, and one after the Millers Court murder that was limited to Dorset St.
These were not a 'net' as such, they were temporary investigations which lasted mere days at the most.
Maybe this is not what you are looking for?

Oh, I almost forgot.
There was a Vigilance Committee set up for Whitechapel who patrolled the streets along with the regular police constables, this was not always successful, some members acting just as suspicious as the killer they sought to track down.

[Ms Diddles]

Hi Milchman!

I'd recommend Neil Bell's book "Capturing Jack the Ripper: In the Boots of a Bobby in Victorian London".

It's a while since I read it, but I recall it being very thoroughly researched and excellent on police procedures of the time.

[milchmanuk]

Hi Milchman!

I'd recommend Neil Bell's book "Capturing Jack the Ripper: In the Boots of a Bobby in Victorian London".

It's a while since I read it, but I recall it being very thoroughly researched and excellent on police procedures of the time.

thx for this recommendation, i certainly will put this on my read list.

[milchmanuk]

I'm not sure why anyone would use the term 'police net', there was nothing I know of that may be so described.

That said, sometime in Sept. 1888, following the Chapman murder, there was a house-to-house investigation conducted across Whitechapel. The geographical limits are given, I mean the street names, from north to south, and east to west, it was a wide police 'net' I suppose, or at least the nearest activity I can think of to answer your question.
We can dig it up if that is what you are thinking of, but it was a one-off occurrence. There were other house-to-house investigations, but of a smaller nature, one following the Stride murder, and one after the Millers Court murder that was limited to Dorset St.
These were not a 'net' as such, they were temporary investigations which lasted mere days at the most.
Maybe this is not what you are looking for?

Oh, I almost forgot.
There was a Vigilance Committee set up for Whitechapel who patrolled the streets along with the regular police constables, this was not always successful, some members acting just as suspicious as the killer they sought to track down.

it was almost certainly in sudgens book i was reading over at st georges hospital a couple Thursdays ago. the quote read to words affect, by officer "we could not believe JTR slipped through our net that night "
i had read that day also of the house to house calls were the police thought the populace would be uncooperative .
i cant recall if this was before or after the officers comment.
it suggests the police either had nights they chose or random evenings were special operations?
thx for reply

[milchmanuk]

the officers quote is also suggestive of prior intuitions' of the person?

[milchmanuk]

sorry i did not post page and officers name i am referring to,
just going over some pages to make it clearer when i find it

[Wickerman]

.......it was almost certainly in sudgens book i was reading over at st georges hospital a couple Thursdays ago. the quote read to words affect, by officer "we could not believe JTR slipped through our net that night "...

At first glance it reads like a quote (or paraphrase) from a memoir.
I notice Sugden did not include the writings of Harry Cox or Robert Sagar, but he does use Insp. Reid & Major Henry Smith. I'd begin with quotes from their writings.

[Joshua Rogan]

Would it have been from Walter Dew's autobiography, describing the night of the double event?

"That two such crimes should have been committed in such circumstances seemed incredible alike to police and public.

Never in the history of the East End of London had such elaborate precautions been taken to prevent the very thing which had not only been done, but repeated.

Hundreds of police, in uniform, in plain-clothes and in all manner of disguises - some even dressed as women - patrolled every yard of every street in the " danger zone " every few minutes.

The most obscure corners were periodically visited. All suspicious characters were stopped and questioned.

Knowing of all these precautions and knowing how determined were the police, I would have staked my life almost that the Ripper, or any other human being, could not have penetrated that area and got away again."

The last line of which is quoted on p 253 by Sugden.

Edit: Dew continues;

"Even now I am completely mystified as to how the terrible events of that night could have happened. What courage the man must have had, and what cunning to walk into so carefully prepared a trap and to get out again without anyone having the slightest suspicion that he was abroad.

It seemed as though the fiend set out deliberately to prove that he could defeat every effort to capture him. He killed one woman in Berners Street. With that he .was not satisfied. Before the body of his first victim was cold he went to Mitre Square and took the life of a second.

In both cases the Ripper must have been within an ace of capture."

[milchmanuk]

wow
your both in the ball park were i was reading that day !
i was reading as there was a organized system of patrol purposely obviously for specific night,
my copy is a paperback 2000 copy i think and p.253 is different but it was within 50 pages of my copy,i looked in notes i read them also.
i am looking at getting a copy of the "Capturing Jack the Ripper: In the Boots of a Bobby in Victorian London".
this will probably quench my thirst on this ,
evading capture is one long provocative thought.