ABSTRACT
After the founding of the Metropolitan Police in 1829, the next piece of legislation which resulted in the setting up of new forces was the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835. The Act primarily achieved a regularization of local government in towns and cities but also specified that incorporated boroughs had to set up police forces under the control of a watch committee. Bristol was among the first to do this in 1836. Regardless of the tension between control and discretion, it is clear that the main focus of the New Police was on maintaining order in the streets and preventing theft. The chapter describes the extent to which the intentions of senior police officers, as well as legislators, survived the interaction of constables with the messy reality of everyday struggle to maintain order on the streets. Every Constable in the Police may hope to rise by activity, intelligence, and good conduct, to the superior stations.
