Into the Law & The Bow Street Runners

Into the Law & The Bow Street Runners 

Bow Street office in the late 19th century (Source: Wikipedia)

 There are a few interesting rules in Into The ODD. One of them is : “Everything is complicated”, the important sub point here being “Nobody knows who rules”.
So the law in Into London 1814 cannot just mirror exactly our London in 1814. That would still be odd for us (i’ll come to that point again later), but not the exact kind of odd we want for this game.

History: 

1814 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland is a troubled time. The kingdom is at war, not only against its former overseas colonies, the newly formed United States of America, but also Napoleonic France.
The War of 1812 (1812 - 1815) against the United States can be seen as part of the napoleonic wars, since the United States considered the continental blocus as illegal and therefore went to war. This was also a war at the border of British Canada and the United States. The Brits weaponed the native tribes, slowing the expansion westwards of the United States. At the same time, it is said the Yankees went to war with the possible intent to annex British Columbia.
In the end, the Treaty of Ghent is a big deal, that is being negotiated during 1814, and all parties want to come on top, so any big victories during the negotiations can be used to claim more than the day before. If my players don’t screw it up one way or another, it will end with a status quo ante bellum, back to situation before the war.
This two wars have an influence on the population of London:

• Taxes are high, resulting in more poverty 
• There is a shortage of male workers (but nobody would trust a women for certain jobs anyway, back then - something you can change in your game, if you want), particularly those able to sail and fight.
• Certain products are scarce, because of the war and the blocus and their influence onto international trade (Fur, leather and cotton prices are much higher for example, which has a repercussion on the price of all clothing) 

Police: 

The Bow street runners (created 1749) are historically the first professional police force in the United Kingdom. They work directly under the Bow street magistrates and are few and far between (my research says around 70-100 members, and their jurisdiction spans the whole London metropolitan area and the roads around).
Up to their creation, there were 3 forces for justice:

• The night watch and the constables 
• The Army 
• The private citizen 

Traditionally, all householder were supposed to police the streets (as part of the watch), and every citizen had to report and capture anyone they saw committing a felony. If someone shouted “Thief” in a crowd, everyone was supposed to help catching the criminal.
They had a good reason to do so: there was a reward for the capture of the villain. This is how the “Thief-Takers” came into life, a kind of bounty hunters who received a (quite handsome) sum of money for the conviction of all kinds of criminals but in particular highway robbers. The private persons also used them to broker a sum to buy back their stolen stuff. As you can imagine, such persons were of low morals and reputation, only tolerated thanks to the results they brought.
The night watch was composed of civilians (all householders) under the supervision of constables. There was originally no salary for watchmen, but around 1800, all were paid for their duty by their parish.
There were also “private watches” for example to patrol on the private roads, where you paid a toll to use. Another example is the West India Merchants Committee, which funded in 1798 a Marine Police Office to protect their assets in the Port of London.
But the main reason of being of the watch, was not to detect crimes but to prevent crimes, their sheer presence in the streets at night acting as a deterrent. Constables were taking orders from the magistrates, organising the watch and executing arrest orders. They had very loose limitations on whom they could arrest and what for, so their power for nuisance was very high (they could let you spent a day in jail for a minor offence like swearing or acting “disorderly”).
The army was only dispatched by order of the king (or someone high up) for really important criminals or in the case of a riot.

What is to different with the Runners, then? 

Well, their work happened after a crime, which they investigated. You could go to them and they would do what we understand nowadays under “police work”. Their focus was on highway robbers and major crimes. And some of them were mounted (about two dozen runners were actually riders).
In 1792, offices like the Bow Street runners were created across the metropolis, each staffed by three paid magistrates and up to six paid officers or constables.
Bow Street remained the first and most distinguished but you could find such Police Offices at Queen's Square (Westminster), Great Marlborough Street (Westminster), Worship Street (Shoreditch), Lambeth Street (Whitechapel), Shadwell, Union Hall (Southwark) and Hatton Garden. There was also a river police (Thames Police Office - created at Wapping in 1798).
Although the situation saw betterment from the beginning of the 1800ies, a lot of corruption plagued these institutions and forces.
Sources:
https://www.londonlives.org/static/Policing.jsp 
https://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/history-from-police-archives/Met6Kt/MetHistory/mhPolOffices.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bow_Street_Runners

What about a peek into the law, but oddified ? 

Well, the law by then is very strange for us:
There were a lot of victimless crimes, motivated more by religious belief than by presenting a danger to society. Drunkenness on the street, swearing, vagrancy, disorderly behaviour, or nightwalking were all reasons to get arrested and fined
The main reason for the watch was not to act on criminal activities but to deter would-be villains to commit crimes.
What we would call “Civilian arrests” were not the exception, but happened everyday and often on fallacious reasons. Most officers of the law (including the magistrates) were corrupt
So, i don’t think we have to oddify the law much.

Historical arrest reasons and their punishment

Arrest Reason / Crime	Fine/Punishment
Deception with intent to steal	1 Year Prison
Stealing costly belongings from house	Transported for Life
Kidnapping	Transported for 7 years
Theft (less than a pound of worth)	6 months in correction, 1 shilling fine
Coining offence: sell fake currency	Death
Highway robbery	Death
Highway robbery without violence	Transported for 7 years
Trick deception	1 Year Prison
Forging delivery documents	1 Year Prison / Death
Receiving & holding fenced goods	Transported for 14 years
Shoplifting	1 Year in correction / Death
Manslaughter (kill someone in Duel)	7 shillings fine
Burglary	Transported for 7 years
Stealing Cattle	Transported for 7 years
Wounding with pistol	Death
Pickpocketing	Transported for 7 years

As you see, judges were quite hard with their punishments. Their saw the harshness of a punishment as a deterrent for other criminals.
If you want to read some judgements from back then, read https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/search.jsp?gen=1&form=searchHomePage&_divs_fulltext=fine&kwparse=and&count=3093&start=1500

So let’s oddify this a bit, to make it less punitive and more enjoyable in-game...

Law random encounters in Whitechapel

1D6	Police force encountered
1	The watch: 1D6 + 4 watchmen armed with batons
2	Constables : 2 armed and better trained watchmen
3	Thief-takers: 1D6 +2 unsavory types armes with cutlasses
4	Lambeth Street “runners”: 1D4 well trained and armed officers in civil clothes
5	Lambeth Street “road patrollers”: 2 well trained and armed mounted officers
6	Army squad: 20 heavily armed soldiers with their officers

Random arrest reasons (and funnier, i hope)

1D30	Reason	Fine/Punishment
1	Kidnapping	Transported for 7 years (where to?)
2	Deception of store (haggling)	Doubling of the price paid
3	Swearing	1D100 pennies
4	Coining offence: using fake coins	Confiscation and 1 shilling fine
5	Theft (less than a pound of worth)	6 months in correction, 1 S fine
6	Coining offence: sell fake currency	Death (invest in a good defense!)
7	Political protest	Hefty fine (5D20 S) / transportation
8	Highway robbery	Death if guilty, 1D20 S trial costs
9	Receiving & holding fenced goods	Transported for 14 years
10	Shoplifting	Confiscation & fine of 2x the price
11	Manslaughter (kill person in Duel)	1D10+5 shillings fine
12	Wounding with pistol (colateral)	Medicine costs + 1D20+20 Shillings
13	Prostitution advance	1D10+15 Shillings
14	Vagrancy	Leave neighbourhood + 2D6 S
15	Public drunkenness	3D6 shilling or night in jail
16	Attempted sodomy	3D10 shilling + terrible night in jail
17	Witchcraft	Confiscation of arcanum + 1D3 P
18	Public lunacy	3D6 shilling & a few hours  in jail
19	Flogging of a boy, age under 16	3D10 shilling & 1D20 whacks
20	Operating a bawdy house	1D6 pounds or transportation
21	Public exhibit of disgusting object	3D6 shilling & confiscation
22	Public display of affection	1D6 shilling per person
23	Public nudity (visible arms or legs)	2D10 shilling + rest of day in jail
24	Animal poisoning	2D6 shilling per 5kg of animal
25	Discourteous behaviour	Leave place + 2D6 Shillings
26	Blasphemy	1D10 Shillings or night in jail
27	Spitting on floor	2D6 Shillings + house ban
28	Splashing pedestrians	2D6 Shillings + cleaning fee
29	Poaching in the Thames or a garden	Confiscation + 2D10 shilling
30	Demonic Possession	Hanging or transportation

Remember, none of this offences have to be true and a magistrate will in the end decide if the arrested person needs to be convicted and what is the sentence.
The fine in the table are guidelines. Paying directly the "runner" will normally not lead to a process.