158 Before the Bobbies1834, ratepayers had become accustomed to the charge and parishes were
better prepared for the warrants. The need for large sums to cover the start-
up costs of Scotland Yard was no longer a factor, allowing the Receiver to
lower the rate as well. Complaints about the cost diminished.
But many people complained that the new police cost more and were less
effective. They felt that the new police did not protect them as well as the
watchmen, particularly from theft and petty nuisances. The most forthright
expression of this view came from the newly elected vestry of St Marylebone,
in its July 1832 petition to Parliament: 'your Petitioners look around in vain
for any equivalent benefit nor do they find that the great object of Legisla-
tion, prevention of Crime, had been attained.'^63 Parish and Home Office
records reveal complaints about increased theft and nuisances and the lack
of men on the streets at night.^64 The night watch had been highly visible ~and
vocal) at night and, in many places, more numerous than the new police. In
the small parish of St Thomas, Southwark, the vestry clerk reported to Lord
Melbourne that only one policeman occasionally walked through the parish
and 'The generality of the Inhabitant Householders expresses much dissat-
isfaction at the policeman being so seldom seen and consider that they are
not so well protected as they were under the old nightly watch. And the
parish is much more frequently annoyed by disturbances in the night .. .'.^66 A
meeting in Shoreditch in September 1830 was attended by 'between 1\vo and
Three Hundred very respectable Parishioners' in a police report to Peel.^67
These residents unanimously resolved
That an experience of nine Months under the System of the New Police has
fully proved that its operations are inimical to the Interests of the Parish
containing upwards of 60 000 Inhabitants for so far from being better pro-
tected one half of the Parish is never visited by the New Police ....^68
In October 1831, as a result of these complaints and others, the Commis-
sioners shifted the majority of their force to night duty, from 9pm to 6am,
instead of dividing the men equally between day and night shifts. The Times
noted: 'The alteration has given general satisfaction to the men, who com-
plained much of the harassing duty they had to perform, the fatigue of which
many were unable to sustain. The night force is now double what it formerly
was, and as the ground is more amply covered, and the men have a much less
extensive beat to perambulate, the duty is expected to be done in a more
efficient manner than hitherto .. .'.^69 Rowan and Mayne thus could address
the complaints of both their men and the parochial authorities.
The Police Commissioners also ordered their men to perform tasks for the
parishes such as reporting on the condition of street lamps, acting as in-
spectors of nuisances, and assisting beadles keep order in churches on Sun-
day.70 In this way the Metropolitan Police learned to walk that fine line
between the abstract demands of law enforcement and its reality. The