The reforms of policing the Metropolis 1798-1829

The authors are in the process of preparing a manuscript for a book entitled The Governance of the Police in England and Wales: From Early Times to the Present Day. As part of our research, we examined a vast range of primary source material relating to the policing of the Metropolis in the early years of the nineteenth century, especially reports from Select Committees in 1798, 1812, 1816, 1818, 1822 and 1828. This article is based on our findings and seeks to examine the nature of policing in that period, focusing on the way in which its structure, organization and governance made out the case for fundamental police reform in the Metropolis which was ultimately provided by the 1829 Metropolitan Police Act.