In the early 1800s, there was great resistance to the idea of a professional police force. It was seen as a threat to British liberty, and linked with the repressiveness of continental regimes, such as that of France (where the word "police" was invented). Writing in 1812, JP Smith described a centralised police force as "a system of tyranny; an organized army of spies and informers, for the destruction of all public liberty, and the disturbance of all private happiness. Every other system of police is a curse and a despotism."

At the same time, most people agreed that the old system of watchmen was not working. Despite frequent public hangings, and other harsh punishments, such as flogging and transportation, crime was thought to be rising. Between 1812 and 1822, four Parliamentary committees, set up to look at the crime problem, failed to agree on a solution. The last was chaired by the new Home Secretary, Robert Peel. He was a strong believer that the way to deal with crime was through prevention, using a trained and efficient police force. Yet he was unable to win over his committee.

After leaving office, Peel set up yet another select committee, in 1828, which finally backed him. He drew up a bill establishing a new "Metropolitan Police Force", which was passed by Parliament on July 19, 1829.

Peelian principles

Peel developed a set of principles, which are still cited today as basic values by police forces in democracies around the world. His central notion was that "the police are the public and the public are the police". The police, wrote Peel, are only members of the public who are "paid to give full-time attention to duties incumbent on every citizen".

He argued that the effectiveness of the police in preventing crime depended on public support. The police would gain this by showing absolute impartiality, by offering service to all members of the public without regard to their wealth or status, and "by ready exercise of courtesy and good humour". Force should only be used as a last resort.

On the beat

Two months after the bill was passed, on September 29, 1,000 new "Bobbies" went out on the beat for the first time. The men were warned that they would be on public trial:

"The Commissioners think it right... to caution every man in the Police Force, at a time when an attempt is made to create a strong prejudice against them, that they should do their duty with every possible moderation and forbearance, and that they should not furnish a just ground of complaint against themselves by any misconduct... It is highly desirable that the Constables should not use their truncheons in any manner that may cause annoyance or irritation, except when absolutely necessary."

On November 29, Peel wrote to the Prime Minister, the Duke of Wellington, reporting on progress:

" I am very glad indeed to hear that you think well of the Police. It has given me from first to last more trouble than anything I ever undertook. But the men are gaining a knowledge of their duties so rapidly that I am sanguine of the ultimate result. I want to teach people that liberty does not consist in having your house robbed by organised gangs of thieves, and in leaving the principal streets of London in the nightly possession of drunken women and vagabonds."