The Modern Science of Thief-Taking by Charles Dickens. Short summary

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The creator describes the personality of Sergeant Whitcham, a London policeman. The latter had an unimpressive appearance — notable for his small stature as well as his dense build.

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The writer recounts the personality characteristics of a British police officer whose name was Witcham. Tom was at one time promoted to the rank of sergeant. The protagonist was an unimpressive man because he was short, had a dense build, his face was disfigured by smallpox, and the clothes he wore looked untidy. However, Whitcham was a resourceful individual who managed to solve tangled criminal cases.

Nevertheless, the author ridicules the deductive method used by his character — the latter is able to investigate complex cases very quickly.

Dickens distinguishes different categories of crooks and thieves, and gives them all sorts of names. He gives examples of individual representatives of the criminal community and narrates different gangs. Moreover, the creator gives accurate statistics about the number of people who are con artists, burglars, etc.