PolicingHow effective was the Metropolitan

Police Force?

What a cartoonist wanted us to believe

Look at each part of the cartoon and start to build up a picture of the cartoonist’s message.

This suggests...

That his hat is skew-whiff, perhaps he is disorganised, scruffy, maybe drunk?

Red cheeks suggest...

He is drunk?

The caption at the bottom of the cartoon says: Come on there, its time you were in bed young woman, anybody with half an eye could see you were in liquor (i.e. drunk). Irony? Pot calling kettle black? Who is he talking to?

He’s talking to a water pump!

He’s definitely drunk!

The date?

1830

The message?

He is showing the police to be :• Drunk,• Inefficient• A laughing stock

So how useful is the source?

• Think of the nature of the source. What difference does it make that this was a cartoon?

• The date of the source. Think about month and year.

• Where it shows. Is this the middle of the city? Would police be better there?

Now it is time to write our expert caption

• So start by describing the main message of the cartoon,

• then refer to the detail that supports your view,

• and finally make comments about the value of the cartoon to historians who want to know how effective the police force was in 1830?

Credits

• The British Museum• GCSE Crime and Punishment , Shephard and

Rees, Hodder, 2005.