The Bow Street runners were?

Question

London's first professional policemen
A group of renegade civilian 'law enforcers'
A fictitious creation from Sherlock Holmes

Answer 1

They were in some ways London's first professional policemen. They were set up by writer and magistrate Henry Fielding from the Bow Street Magistrate's court in 1750. Originally there were only eight of them, and they served writs and arrested offenders by the authority of the court.

After Henry Fielding retired, his brother, John Fielding, succeeded him and turned the Bow Street Runners into the first effective police force.

Answer 2

The Bow highway Runners have been stated as London's first expert police tension. They have been based in 1749 via the author Henry Fielding and initially numbered purely 8.

Answer 3

A group of renegade civilian 'law enforcers' is probably the closest.

Henry Fielding, thought of as an honest and humane judge, took over the Magistrate's office, using it while he was a JP in 1747. Lawyer, dramatist and novelist of The History of Tom Jones and The Adventures of Joseph Andrews, his comedies had a political edge. He influenced Walpole's government, was appointed as a Westminster Magistrate in 1748 and edited the Covent Garden Journal, a popular newspaper of its day. He was eminently aware of the problems of crime and disorder in London. In 1744 he received a report stating that the great number of brothels and taverns in Covent Garden were a cause of increasing robberies. By 1748 there were eight licensed premises on the street, and Fielding proclaimed that every fourth house in Covent Garden was a gin shop. When the craze for gin was at its height in London, a Bow Street tavern boasted: "Here you may get drunk for a penny, dead drunk for twopence and get straw for nothing." Lack of law and order was also blamed. The report stated: "{There is} neglect by the Watchmen and Constables of the night... these taverns and houses are kept by persons of the most abandoned character such as bawds and thieves, receivers of stolen goods, and also the Sheriffs officers who keep lock-up houses... the principal of these houses are situate in Covent Garden." These lock-ups were lodgings in which malefactors (usually debtors) could pay to stay, keeping them out of prison proper. When they could no longer afford the costs, they were often sent to a nearby prison. The new Covent Garden Theatre was blamed for aggravating the crime problem. With highway burglary and street crime widespread, a form of police force was desperately needed, although hotly debated. Up until 1750 soldiers were called in to uphold the law. In 1749 as a response to increasing demand, Fielding organised freelance 'thief-takers', who became known as the Bow Street Runners in 1754.

Answer 4

London's first professional policemen

Answer 5

The fore runners of the London police

Answer 6

The first properly organised and disciplined police force