Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1856-10-14
EVENING STAR,
THE LONDON POLICE

| .he ih'eHes rrOm IL we gather the follow.
| ing particulars:
The present metropolitan police force con.
sists of one chief commissioner, two assistant
commissioners, eighteen superintendents, one
! hundred and thirty three inspectors six hun.
dred and twenty FIVE ssrgeants, and four thou
sand nine hundred and ffty-four constab.es -
making total Of five thousand seven hun
dred and thirty-four. This comparatively
small force watches, by day and by night,
every alley, street, and square, of the vast
metropolis If two millions five hundred thou.
sand inhabitants; tries every accessible door
and window Of its four hundred thousand
| houses; exercises its surveillance over its
eight thousand thieves, and keeps in awe its
nifty thousand people of the 4" uneasy classes f"
The city proper embraces about one hun.
dred square miles The whole metropolitan
ponce district is thirty miles in diameter, and
embraces over seven hundred square miles
Tins wide extent of ground is districted into
eighteen divisions, designated by the letters of
The alphabet; each division is separated into
suodlvlsiOns, the subdivisions into sections.
and, last of all the sections into beats. Of
the main divisions, A, although one of the
smallest In area, is far the most important il
Is the seat OF the central authority, or head
quarters. Its police are much finer men, and
tnelr duties are more responsible than those
OF any other division. They attend upon
the sovereign, the Parliament, tho theatres
the parks, and all other places Of public re-
| sort-such as EPSON and Ascot races, the
| flower shows, Crystal Palace, &c The diyi.
sion is, in fact, to the general body Of me-
tropolitan police, what the guards are to the
| army. In all the divisions exactly the same
organization is maintained, and the same
amount OF arduous work is performed Two
thirds OF the entire force is on duty from nine
or ten In the evening till FIVE or six ia the
| morning, or eight hours.
The sergeants or inspectors walk the round
OF the districts to see that the constables are
duly parading their beats. If door or win
DOW is discovered in an unsafe condition, its
insecurity is immediately made known to the
IL mates; and if the constable fails to detect
the circumstance during his tour, aud il is
afterwards discovered by his sergeant or the
succeeding constable, he is reported and fined
| for his neglect. Continued inattention is Wis.
tied by dismissal Offences of every kind are
| severely punished. From 1850 to 1856, one
thousand two hundred and seventy six police
men were turned out of Office OF these, six
ty-eight were criminalIy convicted. Every
morning sheet of Occurrence" is forward
ed TO the chief commissioner, which contains
| the full particulars Of all matters worthy of
| notice, which have taken place during the
| night throughout the metropolis and a rec
| crd OF all property, lost or stolen, from a gold
pin to chest of plate, is kept in the same
central establishment
In case an affair of unusual Importance oc-
| ours, murder, or great robbery, news Of it
is at once brought to headquarters, and thence
| radlated to every part of the city, by police
| men carrying what are termed route papers,
or papers of particulars of the offence on the
| backs Of which are marked the hour at which
| they were received at the different divisions
| through which they passed
In this manner Information can be circu-
| lated IN two hours to all the stations, except
those belonging to the suburban districts.
This process Of communicating intelligence,
however, is soon to be superseded by that Of
the electric telegraph, by which the constabIes
In every part Of the city can be made ac-
quaintcd with any necessary particulars with
cut moments delay.
la the suburban districts, the constables,
telng widely scattered, arc mounted and arm
cd with swords and pistols. Indeed, the foot
police, whose beats lie in unfrequented quar-
ters, are allowed side-arms; but for the most
part, they are furnished only with billets and
TattIes and are especially eDjoined never to
show their billets except to protect themselves,
and never to spring their rattles except ia
cases Of great urgency.
AT the headquarters Of the metropolitan
police, the commissioners sit daily and receive
the complaints or other communications of the
pubic. The rooms are full of clerks, but all
In the nnlfoTm OF the police; in one Office the
constables are preparing their daily reports
IN another, reading the papers, and learning
what thieves and rogues have turned up in
the police courts in a third room, an inspec-
tor is giving the constables Of his section some
| necessary instructions; Ia Il fourth, are the
detective police in a fifth, the foreign Getec-
| tives, &c, &c. The floating foreign population
| OF the metropolis is well known to the police,
and precluded from any successful attempts at
plots or disturbances
The detective police constitute an impor-
| tant branch of the department This force
consists of three inspectors, nine sergeants,
| and body of police termed "plain-ciothes
men," whose services can be had at any mo-
| ment These plain-clothes men are selected
| with especial reference to their expertncss,
| from the six thousand persons composing the
police force. They are the shrewdest OF the
shrewd. In all great gatherings they are
distributed among the crowd, dressed accord
| ing to the character of the assembly. Thus. at
an agricultural meeting, smock frocks are
| worn, or the dress of a small farmer; at a re-
view, the habiliments of decent mechan in
| his Sunday best, The detectives, as we'll as
| the thieves, are generally famous for some
particular line of business. One is good at
house breakers, another knows how to follow
| up the swell mob, and a third is a crack hand
| at forgers, DC.
The police courts for dispensing Justice are
eleven in number. They form the judgment
seats 10 Wblch all offenders In that great cap
| ital of two million FIVE hundred thousand in.
| habitants are brought, either to be punished
| summarily, or to be remanded to the sessions
to take their trial. These courts, in 1855,
| received in fees, penalties, and fOrfeitures
| Ell ,2l5, while their expenses, including sala-
| ~ of officers, amounted to f63, ,02l. They dis.
| pose of sixty thousand cases annually
From an analysis of the criminal returns
of the metropolitan police, it appears that
crimes have their peculiar seasons Suicides,
assaults, and drunkenness occur most fre-
quently in deg days; while in the winter,
! burglaries increase, and the uttering Of ccun
terfeit coin.
| Tho character Of the cases brought before
the police court varies, in some degree, accord
ing to the neighborhood and other causes. At
| Bow street, cases of arson, murder and bank
ruptcy predominate. The Thames police deals
with mutinies and murders committed On the
high seas Worship street is famous, or rather
infamous for wife-beaters; Marlborough street
for blind beggars, &c.
! A VILLAGE OF WoMEN-The Augsburg Ga.
| zette contains the following unioue niece a