New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-10-03
overcome the sentiment these men represent
IL cannot be-
POLICE FAILURES IN LONDON.

POLICE FAILURES ~ LONDON
The wanton and Unsuitable lust for blood
of the Whitechapcl butcher is only less stagger-
inc than the ayowed bewildcrment Of the po-
lice and their acknowledged inability to make
even a prctence of graphing with the case
The largest city in the world, sheltenng every
night nearly five millions Of inhabitants, IS a'
this moment actually terrorized by single
man. whose periodical repetition of abomnable
crimes seems not to interfere with the immunity
from detection his skill ard cunning have Sc
cured. Night has always been a season OF
crime in London but at present that head
centre of civilization has reapsed to the bar
barrie conditions Of the days Of Alsatia, the
Mobocks and the riverside braves whose ia
vorite after-supper pastime was to stab de-
fenceless victim, despol him and fling his
carcass into the Thames.
The imbccile heplessness of Sir Charles War
ren's force in this crisis is more than a mis-
fortune 1t amounts to public disaster, and
whom the trustful "bobby" depends, as on
superior beings, for reason rs well as impulse.
is as pitiful as the Partially that would excuse
it, The grave concentration Of official inquiry
upon the hapless victim, while the culprit
saunters off to fresh deeds of blood, may inn
press the popular mind, and the circumstantial
details Of the scene Of the tragedy and of the
autopsy on already mangled remains must be
supremacy reassuring to those among whom the
murderer is still at large Nevertheless, Lon
doners have walked up to the fact that the lesson
of the Trafalgar Square riots was one to take to
heart. They have suddenly discovered that
Dogberry still patrols their streets. He has
shortened his coat and donned a helmet and
exchanged his stable lantern for bulFs-eyt
reflector; but his motions are as deliberate as
ever. and his mind still works best in the
groove laid out for him by his masters.
The causes which make the average Ameri-
can the superior of the average Englishman are
precisely those which make the Newly York
officer the superior of his brother of Cockaigne.
For mental brightness is hardly consideration
with the authorities at Scotland Yard. Their
method may be superb, their discipline exact
ing, their observance Of formaty punctlllous;
but the natural shrewdness and alertness which
are the offspring of independence and the
parents of the quick thought and ready action
so essential to competent officer, must not be
sought for on their side Of the water. The
duness of the London constable is indeed not
only recognized but provided against. He is
trained to curb the unseemly desire to be wise,
and to confne his zeal to efforts to ingratiato
himself with his nearest superior, who in his
turn recommends himself to those Immediately
above him by thai deferentia submiSsiyeness
that covers multitude Of sins; and if the
captain of them all vies with the Minister who
divides his responsibility in ignorance con-
corning the engine they control, the Queen
can do no wrong, and her servants are likewise
privileged The London police know that
they, like the VIGOROUSLY inefficient Fire Bri-
gade. are parts Of a System which is too dear
for its imperfectons and has existed too long
to be lightly abandoned and if the town should
burn and the System alone be saved why, the
System is what John Bull prdcs himself on.
Nobody supposes that a series of crimes Of
such magnitude could be pcrpetrated with i'm
punity on Manhattan Island. But nobody sup
poses that such laxness would here be tolerated
as enabled the once notorious Charles Peace
to walk into Scotland Yard, mingle with
group OF detectives, scan p!acafu giving his
own portrait age, height and complexion, and
setting forth the picturesque incidents of his
variegated career, casually inquire Of by
stander whether they had caught that scoun-
drel yet,v and then calmly walk off whistling
1t is such stupidity that has given every quar-
ter of London its mystery" has excited uni
versal derision by the capture Of suspected
dynamters, the wlld-goose chase after actual
offenders, and universal contempt by its I'M
iustifiable arrest of innocent people and its
cruel persecution of them if they CHANGED to
be women and protested. The best thing that
could happen to the Metropolitan Police Force
yyould be reorganization on the American basis.