• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
    • First Time Here?
    • Archive
    • London Blogs
  • Blog
  • Travel
    • London Theater Tickets
    • Shopping
    • Tips
    • Tours
    • Transport
    • Maps
    • Parks
    • Resources
    • Restaurants
    • Top 10 London
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Buildings
    • Food
    • London Books
    • Movies
    • Museums
    • Music
    • Pubs
  • Londonism
    • Reviews
    • Fun London
    • Iconic London
    • Life in London
    • London Realities
    • Moving to London
    • Politics
  • The Tube
  • London History
    • Great London Buildings
    • Great Londoners
  • Contact
  • Guidebooks
    • 101 London Travel Tips – Guidebook
    • 101 Free Things to do in London

Londontopia

The Website for People Who Love London

You are here: Home / Site News / Featured / The London Fiver – You’re Nicked! Five Major Police Methods First Used by Scotland Yard in London

The London Fiver – You’re Nicked! Five Major Police Methods First Used by Scotland Yard in London

Sep 19, 2014 By John Rabon

bobbies-arresting-man

The name Scotland Yard has always been associated with the finest in police work. Since 1829, the Metropolitan Police Service has been on the forefront of crime prevention and investigation. In fact, many modern tools of policing were either invented or first utilised by the Met to capture criminals. As usual, in these cases, necessity was the mother of invention, and each new challenging case led to the creation of new techniques to ascertain and apprehend the criminals. Have a look at five of these methods in this article.

1. Police Detectives

When Sir Robert Peel created the Metropolitan Police Service in 1829, their mission was simply to prevent crime and arrest wrongdoers—but not to investigate crime. Following the French Revolution, most people were suspicious of increases in government power, so when Peel created the Met, he did so with the intention that they be citizen police officers, forbidden to carry firearms and investigate people’s personal affairs. However, with the murder of Lord William Russell in 1840, Commissioner Richard Mayne secretly set about creating the Met’s first detective branch to solve the crime. Using their investigative powers, the first detectives discovered that there had been no break in from the street and the real murderer was Lord Russell’s own valet. This success in detection permitted the formal creation of the detective branch two years later in 1842.

2. Crime Scene Preservation & Photography

Jack the Ripper’s murder spree not only inspired fear in the populace, but it inspired the Met to create and use new methods of crime fighting. One of the first uses of crime scene preservation occurred after the murder of the Ripper’s fifth and final victim—Mary Kelly. Kelly was the only one of the established victims murdered indoors, and so the police were able to cordon off the building to prevent members of the public from interfering with the crime scene and destroying evidence. Photos of Kelly’s mutilated corpse were the first examples of crime scene photography and were combined with illustrations and extensive notes to determine how she was killed and glean any information that might shed light on the Ripper’s identity. Though these methods proved unsuccessful in catching the killer, they continued to be utilised in later murders that prevented many guilty men from going free.

3. Criminal Profiling

Also an invention originating with the Ripper murders, Dr. Thomas Bond served as one of the first criminal profilers. Dr. Bond had assisted in the autopsy of Mary Kelly, and well before the days of psychologists providing criminal profiles, Dr. Bond had only his intuition and the facts at hand to build his picture of Kelly’s murderer. Bond believed that the Ripper was a middle-aged man, calm and calculating, and also wore a long coat to hide the blood of his crimes. He believed the crimes were sexual in nature, with a particular anger directed towards prostitutes. Though many eyewitnesses corroborated Bond’s profile of the killer, this was not enough to lead to his capture.

4. Fingerprint Identification

Though Scotland Yard was not the organisation to invent fingerprinting, they are perhaps the first police organisation to utilise it to capture criminals. Collecting fingerprints from known criminals, the Met built up a huge database of fingerprints that detectives could use to identify perpetrators. Perhaps the most prevalent case involved the Stratton Brothers. In 1905, Alfred and Albert Stratton entered Chapman’s Oil and Colour Shop, robbed the till, and killed the owners, Thomas and Ann Farrow, in order to prevent identification of the Strattons as the robbers. However, one of them left a bloody smudge on the cash box, which was collected by the police and turned over to the Fingerprinting Bureau for identification. At trial, Detective Inspector Collins used prints from the Met’s files and images of the prints left on the cash box to make a positive identification of the Stratton Brothers. Though the Strattons weren’t convinced that it was enough to tie them to the robbery and murders, the jury disagree, and they were both convicted.

5. Forensic Science

After Cora Crippen died, her husband, Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen, told the neighbours she’d caught pneumonia. However, after he moved his assistant into the house with him, the neighbours became suspicious and called the Yard, who launched an investigation. A detective found Cora’s body buried behind some bricks in the basement, which Crippen denied belonged to his late wife. At trial, one of the world’s first forensic pathologists, Sir Bernard Spilsbury, testified that the body was indeed Cora Crippen’s, having found traces of hyocine, a calming drug, in her system and a piece of skin from her abdomen (which bore a distinctive scar) as her head, limbs, and skeleton were never recovered. Though he participated in hundreds of autopsies, investigations, and trials, in more recent times, experts believed that his unwavering certainty in his own opinions were mostly based on inferences and actually led to several miscarriages of justice—including Dr. Crippen. Still, his early work in forensics and trial testimony caused the new science to blossom in field of police detection.

John Rabon
Author: John Rabon

John is a regular writer for Anglotopia and its sister websites. He is currently engaged in finding a way to move books slightly to the left without the embarrassment of being walked in on by Eddie Izzard. For any comments, questions, or complaints, please contact the Lord Mayor of London, Boris Johnson's haircut.

close

Free London News

Get the latest news on London history, culture, travel, exhibitions, and more right in your inbox!

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Share this:

  • Print
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Reddit
  • Pocket

Filed Under: Featured, History, London Long Reads

Subscribe to Our Free London Updates

Free London News

Get the latest news on London history, culture, travel, exhibitions, and more right in your inbox!

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

About John Rabon

John is a regular writer for Anglotopia and its sister websites. He is currently engaged in finding a way to move books slightly to the left without the embarrassment of being walked in on by Eddie Izzard. For any comments, questions, or complaints, please contact the Lord Mayor of London, Boris Johnson's haircut.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. brigettelee says

    Sep 23, 2014 at 1:58 am

    Hi, I throughly enjoyed reading this blog entry and was curious about what was written about fingerprinting techniques. I read once that fingerprinting techniques were first begun in India by an English man in charge of the police there. After some mutiny in 1800 (I can’t remember the exact date), they took the fingerprints of the people arrested after the massacre to try and identify and arrest all involved. Arthur Conan Doyle included these advances in forensic technology in his novels which contributed to the popularity of Sherlock Holmes. Is it possible that the Met then took the technique for fingerprinting further, or was it the other way around and was it taken to India from London?

Primary Sidebar

Subscribe to Our Free London Updates

Free London News

Get the latest news on London history, culture, travel, exhibitions, and more right in your inbox!

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Get the Anglotopia/Londontopia App

Our Advertisers

If you are a mobile gamer, you may want to take a look at UK’s new mobile casinos and slots reviewed by NewCasinoUK.

Join the London Forum

  • Mudlarking
  • MY FAVOURITE PLACE IN LONDON
  • What's Your Favorite Place in London?
  • Paddington Station

London Guide

  • Ten Cheap Things You Can Do in London on a Budget
  • Ten London Exhibitions to Look Forward to in 2023
  • London’s Non-Free Museums: Your Guide to London’s Museums That Charge Admission
  • Trip Planning: Top 10 Exhibitions To Plan Your 2018 Trips to London Around
  • London Guide: Our Favorite Restaurants in London – London Restaurant Recommendations for Americans – What’s Your Favorite?

Connect With Us

  • Facebook
  • RSS Feed
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Support Londontopia

Search our Extensive Archive

Top 10 London

  • Ten Unusual Exhibits to See in London
  • London Pubs: Ten Thameside Pubs for a Pint and a View
  • Top 10 London: Ten More Things to Do Along the River Thames
  • Top 10 London: Top Ten Shopping Centers in London
  • Museums of London: Ten Overlooked London Museums
  • Top 10 London: Top Ten Things to See and Do in Haggerston
  • Top 10 London: Top Ten Things to See and Do in Haringey
  • Top 10 London: Top Ten Things to See and Do in Redbridge
  • Top 10 London: Top Ten Things to See and Do in Hillingdon
  • Top 10 London: Top Ten Things to Do in Canonbury

Recent Posts

  • V&A set to open first major UK exhibition on Renaissance sculptor Donatello
  • Ten National Trust Properties in London
  • What’s On in London Events for February 2023
  • Only Fools And Horses musical to close in West End after four years
  • Artist Ai Weiwei to launch first design-focused exhibition at London’s Design Museum
  • London Travel Alert: Staff at British Museum to walk out during half-term break
  • Poet Lemn Sissay ‘over the moon’ to receive Freedom of the City of London
  • English Heritage has unveiled six new blue plaques for London
  • National Portrait Gallery to reopen in June with two special exhibitions
  • Exploring The Cosmic House in London

Best Posts on Londontopia

  • 101 London Travel Tips
  • Top 100 London Attractions
  • How to Find the Cheapest Airfares to London
  • 10 Things NOT to do in London
  • Best London Guidebooks
  • 101 Free Things to do in London
  • London Lingo – A London Word Dictionary
  • Top 7 Tips for Doing London on the Cheap
  • Top 11 Myths American Believe about London
  • Guide to Eating in London
  • Best Times of Year to Travel to London
  • London Packing Tips
  • Top 11 Movies Set in London
  • Top Attractions off the Tourist Track
  • Top 5 Most Amazing London Hotels
  • Top 10 Hostels in London
  • Best Views in London Restuarants
  • London Taxi Ettiquette
  • Top 12 London Views
  • Great Fire of London
  • A Guide to Five of London’s Bridges
  • 10 Random Facts and Figures about Trafalgar Square
  • Top 100 British Slang Words

London Places to Explore

Bloomsbury Buckingham Palace Canary Wharf City of London Covent Garden Cutty Sark Greenwich Hampstead Hampton Court Palace Heathrow Houses of Parliament Hyde Park Imperial War Museum Islington Kensington Kensington Palace Leicester Square London London Eye London Transport Museum Museum of London National Gallery Notting Hill Piccadilly Circus Putney Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Regent's Street Royal Academy Selfridges Somerset House Southbank Southwark St Pancras St Paul's Cathedral Tate Britain Tate Modern The City Tower Bridge Tower of London Trafalgar Square V&A Wandsworth West End Westminster Westminster Abbey

SIGN-UP FOR FREE LONDON WEEKLY UPDATES!

Please enter a valid email address
That address is already in use
The security code entered was incorrect
Thanks for signing up

Recent Videos

Walk Around London Virtually Right Now – Watched Walker is the YouTube Channel We All Need Right Now

Jason Hawkes Shares a Beautiful Video of London From Above That We All Need Right now

London Tube: You’ve Got to Watch This Amazing Mesmerizing Animation That Shows the Real Geography of the London Underground

Video: The Basics of Crossrail – London’s New Underground Line

London History: The Place Where Old London Double Decker Buses Went to Die

London Video: A Look at the Great Smog of London

Tube and London bus fares to rise by nearly 6% from March

What is Crossrail 2 and What is Its Current Status?

London Alert: Strike by London Underground workers to go ahead after last-minute talks fail

London Mayor hails Elizabeth line as direct routes and Sunday services begin

Elizabeth line fully opens and offers more direct journeys

Tube poet encourages writers to ‘bring who they are to the field’

Footer

About Londontopia

Londontopia is simply the website for people who love London. It was founded by Jonathan & Jackie Thomas from Anglotopia.net as a place to post articles solely focused on London and its environs. Keep up with all the latest London news at Londontopia! This site is geared towards people who love to visit London and our primary audience is North American but everyone is welcome!

When We’re in London Next

We don’t currently have any travel plans to London but hope to visit at some point in 2021.

  • SEO Backlinks
  • Travel Blog

SIGN-UP FOR FREE LONDON WEEKLY UPDATES!

Please enter a valid email address
That address is already in use
The security code entered was incorrect
Thanks for signing up

Copyright © 2023 Anglotopia, LLC · Website Developed by Anglotopia, LLC · Log in