Collaboration, 1750-74 47Enquiry into the Causes of the Late Increase of Robbers, Etc., Henry Fielding
argued: 'The other great Encouragement to Robbery, beside the certain
Means of finding a Market for the Booty, is the Probability of escaping
Punishment.'^13 With improved detection, that probability would be
decreased. It will only be later, in the 1760s and 1770s, that the Bow Street
force expanded and took on patrol duties, under Sir John Fielding. The
Fieldings also believed in communication as a way to improve detection -
Bow Street became a clearing house for information on wanted criminals,
recent crimes, descriptions of stolen property, and other information. This
was then published in London newspapers and circulated to metropolitan
law enforcement officials.^14
The innovations that the Fieldings sponsored were not intended to chal-
lenge or supersede the parochial night watch system. In his suggestions for
how to remedy the problem of increased robbery, Henry Fielding does not
discuss the parish watch system. His only mention of parish officers comes in
a discussion of the powers of arrest that belong to all citizens and to
constables in particular. He recommends that both citizens and peace
officers should be familiar with the power they have under the law to arrest
criminals and be willing to use them. He also calls for a change in attitude
towards those who arrest, prosecute, and testify against felons: 'If to bring
Thieves to Justice be a scandalous Office, what becomes of all those who are
concerned in this Business, some of whom are all rightly thought to be
among the most honourable Offices in Government?'^15
Henry and John Fielding were primarily concerned with improving the
resources available to active magistrates for solving crimes and apprehending
wanted criminals. Magistrates dealt with crime only after it happened, when
a constable brought an accused person to be charged or after a victim sought
redress. John Fielding apparently believed the parish system was functioning
well. He concluded his 1758 pamphlet with this compliment to the parish
constables of Middlesex and Westminster:
nor must I forget to acknowledge myseH greatly indebted to the general
good Behaviour, Diligence, and Activity of the Constables of the County
of Middlesex, and City and Liberty of Westminster, who have never been
backward in their Duty, however hazardous the Occasion.^16
The Fieldings thus saw their work and suggestions for reform as comple-
mentary to parish forces, not as a substitute for them. As commentators on
the broader issue of crime and its causes, though, Henry and John Fielding
took a wider view of the problem of crime and its prevention, only part of
which could be addressed at the parish level.
In 1761, Sir John Fielding sent an idea for improving the police of greater
London to Charles Jenkinson, Under-Secretary of State for the 'freasury
(later Lord Liverpool), including the suggestion that a regiment of Light