Bow Street Runner White Shavit had once worked under Magistrate John Fielding. John Fielding was the son of Henry Fielding, the founder of the Bow Street Runners. Henry believed that if he could hire a group of people who, once paid, could devote themselves wholeheartedly to investigation and detective work, London's public order could be transformed. So he hired a group of Westminster patrolmen and had them track down criminal suspects.
The Secret Service funded him to maintain a standing force of six to eight officers. At the time, the Bow Street Runners' work was still mainly focused on apprehending criminals, finding them based on the victims' descriptions. By John Fielding's time, however, the emphasis had shifted to training "detectives." They were not merely to identify criminals through witnesses, but to seek clues as though closing their eyes and listening in the darkness to wind passing over strings, uncovering the truth of a case through its most subtle criminal details.
John's methods were a revelation to other magistrates. Before long, courts in areas such as Whitechapel and Clerkenwell followed suit, and the Bow Street Runners' investigation results were admitted as evidence in criminal courts. Thirty-five to forty percent of London magistrates' cases were submitted by Bow Street.
The Runners gradually acquired a formal structure and rules that had to be observed. For instance, detectives could not be ruthless, unjust, or lawless. In truth, not everyone could abide by those rules as John did. White Shavit frequently accepted bribes. Murder cases were not investigated unless a case was filed, and the standard for filing a murder case was a body. Without a body, it could only be considered a disappearance.
Such conduct was common among the Runners. Thief-takers could easily cross the legal line while bringing criminals to justice. There had