At the same time that the lieutenant general of police was trying to maintain public order in Paris, the reactive and inefficient urban policing system of England, in which nearly unpaid public constables had to rely on private, stipendiary thief-takers to maintain an appearance of law and order, was falling apart. The hallmark of this system was its hybrid character: it blended discredited high constables with corrupt bounty hunters. Serious crimes and disorders in the cities reached intolerable levels, and the military and the yeomanry were called upon to quell rioting with increasing regularity. In response to the high level ...(100 of 29314 words)