Growth of Anonymity, Urban Crime and Policing

Abstract

Apart from having a shared legal, administrative, structural and ideological foundation, the Dublin, London, metropolitan Queensland and Toronto police forces eagerly explored and exploited the reforms and innovations in kindred constabularies. These policing experiences were routinely transferred between the forces, along with the constant movement of personnel. The chapter further looks at ‘bobby on the beat’ manner of policing and why it was deemed the most appropriate for the highly populated urban centres. An increased police presence was seen as the optimal solution to counteracting the habitual criminality of those on the social margins. Growing anonymity facilitated by the post-Industrial Revolution surge of urban and colonial migration altered the nature of crime within the British Isles and the colonies. The expansion of the clerical class, the growing financial and retail spheres and anonymity allowed for the evolution of uniquely urban crime trends, which contributed to parallel developments in the approach to policing across the institutions.