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Justin Block
Lynda Haas
Writing 39B
8 June 2014
Character Profile: The Police
Literary scholars who address the police characters in the Holmes stories all conclude
that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle made these characters ineffective to reflect the real life situation of
the time in late Victorian London; these characters became a classic convention within the
detective genre.
One example of the ineffective police character is Peter Jones in The Sign of Four.
Officer Jones arrests Thaddeus for killing his brother, but Thaddeus is not the murderer. The
injustice Conan Doyle presented here shows that the police force cannot create an ordered world.
Jerome Delamater and Ruth Prigozy suggest that because of the ineffective police force, there
was a need for the order restored by Holmes, the detective who is always effective: Detective
stories help reassure us in the belief that the universe, underneath it all, is rational. Theyre small
celebrations of order and reason in an increasingly disordered world. Leroy Panek, who wrote
Beginnings, talks about the birth of the detective genre from four primary reasons, and an
ineffective police force was one of them. Panek agrees with Delamater and Prigozy that the
world is becoming more disordered, but also states the reason is the police force were once
stabilized and efficient, but with constant struggles, they were not seen as heroes to the public
(8). Panek mentions here that in the eyes of the public, the police were seen as the enemies. The
untrustworthy Peter Jones, who is lacking in police skills, appears again in The Red-Headed
League. He tells Mr. Merryweather, the bank owner, the only equipment Holmes wants is an
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old dog to help him to do the running down (Doyle). This statement shows Holmes would use
a dog rather than the police for his cases. Panek says Doyle, through his fictional narrator, takes
it as a given that the public has a right to know about crime, criminals, policemen, and
detectives. (76). Panek is talking about Conan Doyle using Sherlock Holmes character to
reflect the ineffective police force abilities. John McBratney agrees with Panek, but adds there is
no respect for the police when he says just as a general mutiny of the London police would be
followed by a violent outburst of crime on the part of the London thieves and roughs (157).
McBratney is saying an ineffective police force would lead to rise in crimes, which also results
to an uneasy civilian life. In Beginnings, Panek gives an example of an uneasy lifestyle with
Jack the Ripper going on a killing spree and the police did nothing to stop the death toll (8). The
scholarly authors characterize the police as unintelligent with their bad and thoughtless
decisions. These ineffective police character acts as a contrast to the genius of Holmes, who
always solve the case.