Describe Law and Order in the Late 19th Century

... 1. Describe Law and Order in the Late 19th Century In the 19th century the main aim of the Metropolitan police was to deter criminals from committing crime rather than actually solving it. However the police force did have to deal with many cases of drunkenness and petty theft, which were common in 19th century London. As well as dealing with the common crimes, the police also got involved in controlling public demonstrations. They often used batons to control the crowd and soon got a reputation for being heavy handed, after a baton charge at a demonstration in Bromley in 1868, resulted in a seventy-eight year old man being trampled to death. Many people saw the police as Defenders of order. However many people from working class background saw the police in a bad light (police frequently went on the beat armed with cutlasses.) In fact the rates of attacks on police

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