138 Before the Bobbiesthe Bow Street patrols to their districts, only to be disappointed again.
Requests from Hammersmith, the Commercial Road region, Stoke
Newington, Homsey, and Hackney met either with a regretful reply that
the Bow Street force 'is not sufficient to admit of an extension of their
services'^55 or, in some instances, a small number of officers were reassigned.
In the latter cases, local authorities were warned that any such arrangement
'cannot be permanent'.^56 Several key areas thus saw a distinct drop in the
numbers of watchmen patrolling their roads after 1826. Whether for philo-
sophical reasons or to avoid raising local rates, more local leaders looked to
the central government as a police authority by 1828.
The importance of the commitment, hard work, and political skill of
Robert Peel was crucial in all this. Peel's work in reforming the criminal
law and his sense of the interconnectedness of the criminal justice system
meant that he did not see police reform as a way to avoid other kinds of
reform. It is thus understandable that Peel should succeed in 1828 and not in
- From his speech to Parliament in February 1828, Peel clearly articu-
lated his understanding that, in spite of his reforms of the criminal law and
courts, police reform was a key component that was still missing. That he
could speak from the experience of the previous six years must have made
his argument that much more compelling.
Peel's legal reform campaign also taught him some important tactical
lessons on how to disarm potential opponents. Peel learned the value of
drawing into the process as many as he could, involving judges and law
officers of the Crown in the drafting of legislation and soliciting opinions
and advice. In 1828, Peel made a special effort to involve local police
authorities. Parochial leaders and officials were asked to testify for the Select
Committee, and, apparently, their opinions were also sought in private.
This was something Peel had not done in 1822. In his speeches, Peel high-
lighted the faults of the system, not the people who operated it. Peel may
have believed that many were incompetent and corrupt, but he also knew
that many were neither, and in any case, it was politically wise to focus
his attack on the framework. As Peel's biographer, Norman Gash, noted,
'from Peel's point of view ... the essential task was to gain the cooperation of
the existing ... authorities in effecting reform, rather than to enforce it on
them'.^57
Peel was also far better prepared in 1828 than in 1822. In 1822, he was
redeeming promises made by the government before he took office. In 1828,
Peel had been ready since 1826 when, in a letter to Henry Hobhouse, he
outlined a plan to make a police district of the area within a ten-mile radius
of St Paul's cathedral. He also admitted: 'I can make a better arrangement
after a searching enquiry and a thorough exposure of the defects of the
present system, in regard to the administration of justice by county magis-
trates, and the state of the police by night and day, than in any other