124 Before the Bobbies
the division of labour gradually diffuses itself through every department of
civilized life, and affords that increase of skill and attention to public
business, which a more advanced state of society requires; it was easier
formerly to serve the public in person than to pay others; but this state of
things has been reversed, by the gradual influx of wealth and refinement,
and now it is generally found easier to pay than to serve.^109With the acceptance of professional policing, the challenge was how to make
effective use of these employees. Local and central authorities made various
adjustments to systems of patrolling, disciplinary procedures, pay scales, and
other details. This kind of reform was firmly based in the everyday experi-
ence of watch authorities, police magistrates and their officers and men. The
government and parishes also struggled with the frustrations caused by
knowing what could be done to improve policing and yet not being able to
afford it. The changes made in these years continued to reflect the ideas of
reformers like Bentham and Colquhoun, in their emphasis on improving the
preventive as well as the detective functions of the police. But while profes-
sional policing was increasingly the norm, the idea of centralized policing, so
dear to the hearts of utilitarian reformers, remained controversial.