Many Victorians Hated Cops and Attacked Them For Fun
Today’s London cops – the officers of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) – are generally respected and affectionately known as “bobbies”. That was not always the case. For decades after they were first formed in 1829, the very legitimacy of police and the need for their services was questioned by many Victorians, and MPS officers had a correspondingly fraught relationship with the public they were sworn to serve. Indeed, throughout much of the nineteenth century, the bobbies were held in low esteem by much of the public. They were not only routinely derided and disrespected, but were also frequently actively trolled, baited, and attacked for kicks and giggles.
Many disliked the cops, and there was an active anti police ideology in the Victorian Era, communicated through the radical press, which depicted the new police as an unconstitutional infringement on English liberties. The bobbies were often referred to as “blue locusts” and “blue idlers”, reflecting a perception that they were parasites, excused by their position from honest work, and living off the taxes of honest men.
Cops were particularly disliked by the working and lower classes, who resented the suppression of popular recreations and customs such as public drinking, gambling, prize fights, and street games. Routine police work in poorer neighborhoods, such as patrolling and keeping an eye out for trouble, was often viewed by those who had never experienced the such as an intrusive and unprecedented surveillance regime.
Accordingly, many Victorians, developed an active antipathy towards police, and did what they could to make the life of beat cops as miserable as possible. That often took the form of violence, of varying degrees. Police attempting to arrest miscreants, particularly in working class neighborhoods, were often set upon and attacked by the culprit’s neighbors, friends, and passersby, in order to rescue the detainee.
In addition to objections to police interference with street life, there was even greater resentment when the cops got involved in domestic affairs and affrays. Cops who approached private residences, regardless of the motive, risked a hostile reception. Even knocking on doors to alert residents to security lapses, such as leaving a door or window open at night, was often met not with gratitude, but with abuse and violence from Victorians assailing the cops for their temerity in disturbing their peace. The bobbies were especially reluctant to get involved in instances of domestic violence, because they feared encountering the wrath of both parties, who often temporarily forgot their own squabble and united to attack the cops.
Sometimes the violence was not instrumental, such as attempts to free somebody known to the assailants from the police, but was visited upon the bobbies for the sheer fun of it. Many enjoyed leading policemen on merry chases, while others simply attacked them out of the blue. More creative were some gangs of working class youths, who often collaborated to set up and ambushes for police, baiting the cops into chasing them down alleys and footpaths strung with trip wires. The wires’ release would spring Loony Toons-type booby traps, causing bricks to smash into the cops, or tipping buckets of refuse to fall upon their heads.