Collaboration, 1750-74 57vestries, led by Piccadilly and Hanover Square, and Parliament, led by Sir
Charles Whitworth, worked together effectively to obtain and implement
legislation that addressed the concerns of both local and central government
about rising crime levels. The primary concern of Sir Charles Whitworth and
the vestry of St James, Piccadilly was the villainy of thieves and robbers who
worked under cover of night. As in the 1730s and 1750s, concern about the
rising level of street crime and property crime of all types spurred renewed
interest in law enforcement reform, but now especially the reform of the
night watch. By 1775, Westminster and several neighbouring parishes had a
night watch system that was both professional and hierarchical in structure,
charged with preventing crime and apprehending night walkers and vaga-
bonds. While police authority did remain divided among several local bodies
and officials, decentralization was not necessarily synonymous with defect-
iveness. These parochial authorities put increasing numbers of constables,
beadles, watchmen, and patrols on the street, paid and equipped them. They
spent increasing amounts of time disciplining them when they were delin-
quent and increasing amounts of money on wages. And in the last quarter of
the century both fears about crime and expectations about policing, contin-
ued to rise.