Victorians Liked to Attack Cops for Fun
For Victorian cops to even simply knock on doors to alert residents to security lapses, such as a door or window left open at night, was a fraught affair. It was often met not with gratitude, but with abuse and violence from citizens who assailed the police for their temerity and disturbance of their peace. The Bobbies were especially reluctant to get involved in instances of domestic violence. From bitter experience, they feared to encounter the wrath of both parties, who often temporarily forgot their own squabble and united in order 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 instead visited upon the Bobbies for the sheer fun of it. Many liked to lead policemen on merry chases, while others simply attacked them out of the blue. More creative were some gangs of lower-class youths, who often collaborated to set up ambushes for the police, and baited the cops to chase them down alleys and footpaths strung with tripwires. The wires’ release would spring traps straight out of Looney Tunes, which caused bricks to smash into the policemen, or tipped buckets of refuse to fall upon their heads.