The ‘Peelian Principles’: their historical and contemporary veracity

Both popular and ‘official’ sources posit that a set of nine definitive principles were authored to shape the working practices of the new Metropolitan Police (and all subsequent British forces) on its foundation in 1829 by Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel. These are colloquially referred to as the ‘Peelian Principles’ or ‘Peel’s Principles’. Today they are taught to all new police officers on the Police Entry Qualifications Framework (PEQF); as well as venerated by senior officers and policing inspectorates. Revisionist history, however, demonstrates that these nine commandments are, in all likelihood, an invention of the mid-twentieth century, apparently based on a summary of ideas extrapolated from Peel’s (alongside joint Commissioners Charles Rowan and Richard Mayne’s) early writings regarding police functions. This article intends to build on this insight into their origins through an examination of their relevance and veracity of whether they could have existed as codified in the first century of British policing at all; alongside whether they could or do hold true today. It seeks to do this by examining the historical context of policing in the Victorian era in relation to the Principles; whilst concurrently examining contemporary policing in the same manner. It concludes that whilst some of the principles can be examined in both eras, there are significant questions around their validity during both timeframes, thus raising questions of whether they should be placed on the pedestal they currently are.