Before the Bobbies. The Night Watch and Police Reform in Metropolitan London, 1720-1830

(^126) Before the Bobbies
Peel learned between 1822 and 1828 how to get legislation passed through
Parliament, particularly as he worked to reform the criminal law. However;
Peel either planned well or was lucky in his timing. Reformers and radicals
became increasingly critical in the 1820s of local government, pointing to the
extravagance, jobbery, and exclusivity of select vestries and charging that
they failed to govern in the best interests of parishioners. Whig and Radical
leaders joined the chorus of criticism directed at select vestries. The spring of
1829 in particular witnessed significant conflicts within many London
parishes that distracted some of the more powerful potential opponents to
centralized policing. These conflicts also separated local leaders from their
traditional Whig and Radical allies in Parliament, contributing to the smooth
passage of Peel's Metropolitan Police Act.
Robert Peel was sworn in as Home Secretary in January 1822. Peel continued
criminal justice reform along lines Lord Sidmouth had pursued but he also
provided new direction. Peel's views on crime and policing had been forged in
the furnace of Ireland, when he was Chief Secretary from 1812 to 1818. Irish
crime in the early nineteenth century presented a special challenge to the
government. It was violent, personal, and politically inspired. In London,
people had their pockets picked and their houses robbed and they were
assaulted in fights; in Ireland people were maimed, disfigured, raped, and
murdered. Local law enforcement, depending on public cooperation, did not
work well in Ireland, given the religious and social differences. Punitive attacks
on those who cooperated with magistrates were common. Finding victims
willing to prosecute, witnesses willing to testify, and magistrates brave enough
to pass sentence was extremely difficult. Peel's solution for Ireland was the
creation of a centrally-controlled, uniformed police force. First known as the
Peace Preservation Force, it later became the Royal Irish Constabulary?
In 1822, the newly appointed Peel requested another Select Committee on
the Police of the Metropolis. Peel was astute enough to know that his fellow
MPs did not view London and its crimes as they did Ireland. Thus he was
tentative, saying he 'should abstain from discussing or even giving an opinion
upon the subject' because of its importance and his short time in office. He
doubted 'his competency to treat it as might be expected. Any opinion which
he could at present offer to the House must, in the nature of things, be crude
and imperfect.' He proposed this committee because the previous ones had
recommended more inquiry and 'a promise given ... last session', apparently
by Sidmouth. Finally, he hoped this Committee would pursue its enquiries
'with but one view -"the obtaining for the metropolis as perfect a system of
police as was consistent with the character of a free country'' '. Chaired by
Peel, the committee was a mixture of reformers (Henry Grey Bennett),