31. Working Class vs Police
Victorian police were particularly disliked by the working and lower classes. They resented the suppression of popular recreations and customs such as public drinking, gambling, prize fights, and street games, which were crimes on the statutory books. 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 such an intrusive and unprecedented surveillance regime.
Accordingly, many Victorians developed an active antipathy toward police. So they did what they could to make the life of beat cops as miserable as possible. That often took the form of a crime wave of violence against the police. Cops trying 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.