Reasons for Jack the Ripper never being caught

There was no forensics or DNA information available to the Police – even fingerprints were not yet used to identify criminals Photography was not considered to be an important part of an investigation. Only one of Jack’s victims out of six was photographed at the crime scene The police relied on local contacts among the criminal community – but Jack seems to have worked alone, which made it harder to track him down The maze of alleys and narrow streets in the East End made it almost impossible for the relatively small police force to keep an eye on the comings and goings of suspects during their beat patrols Police were instructed not to talk to newspapers under any circumstances. This meant that journalists were forced to get in the way of the case if they wanted to find out how much progress had been made Lack of government trust and being understaffed meant that morale was incredibly low in the Criminal Investigation Department when the Ripper murders began in 1888 The Metropolitan Police had always been understaffed – and they were more understaffed in 1888 (8,773 police for 5,476,447 citizens) than at any point since they were created in 1829 The East End was the most crime-ridden area in England, and its inhabitants were notoriously unwilling to speak to the police about their comings and goings The police had ended the practice of offering rewards for catching criminals in 1884, because it was felt that it was not a reliable way of ensuring an arrest