Conversation so far:
what made it difficult?
It was one of the largest investigations by a British police force and predated the use of computers.
What else made it difficult?
Information on suspects was stored on handwritten index cards.
Aside from difficulties in storing and accessing the paperwork.
What did it do to the floor?
the floor of the incident room was reinforced to cope with the weight of the paper.
Why did the officers struggle?
it was difficult for officers to overcome the information overload of such a large manual system.
How many times did the interview Sutcliff?
Sutcliffe was interviewed nine times, but all information the police had about the case was stored in paper form, making cross-referencing difficult.
what else add paper?
compounded by television appeals for information which generated thousands more documents.

Question: What did the public do then?
Self-contained rewrite: What did the public do when the case was compounded by television appeals for information which generated thousands more documents?