- Jerome Caminada
Jerome Caminada (1844 – March 1914) was a 19th-century police officer in
Manchester ,England . Caminada served with the police between 1868 and 1899, and has been called Manchester'sSherlock Holmes . [Harvnb|O'Neill|2008|p=195.] In 1897 he became the city's first CID superintendent. His most famous case was the Manchester Cab Murder of 1889, in which he discovered and brought the initially unknown perpetrator to trial and conviction only three weeks after the murder.Harvnb|Greater Manchester Police|1989|p=22.]Life
Caminada was born in
Deansgate ,Manchester in 1844, to an Irish mother and an Italian father. At that time, Deansgate consisted mostly ofpublic houses ,brothels , and poor quality housing for mill workers, and was the heart of Victorian Manchester's crime world.He began working as an engineer in the city, but in February 1868, he joined the Manchester City Police force, at the age of 24. In 1872 he was promoted to sergeant, and transferred to the newly formed detectives division, based in the town hall. Over his thirty-year career, he earned the respect of colleagues, judges and criminals alike; he was often known as Detective Jerome to the local criminals, who struggled with pronouncing his last name.
In 1888, Caminada's national reputation for policing – he was reportedly responsible for the imprisonment of 1,225 criminals and for the closure of 400 public houses [Harvnb|Greater Manchester Police|1989|p=23.] – earned him promotion to inspector. Threats on his life were commonplace; Caminada often used to carry a pistol, and had cause to use it on more than one occasion.
His policing style was eccentric by modern standards, often involving dressing in disguise to gather evidence on suspects. He also maintained a large network of informers, who he would often meet in St Mary's Church, known as the Hidden Gem. His methods were effective, however, and he was soon made the city's first
Detective Superintendent .He retired in 1899, becoming a private detective, an estate agent and briefly involving himself in local politics as a Manchester city councillor for
Openshaw between 1907–1910. He also wrote his memoirs, first published in 1901 as "Twenty-Five Years of Detective Life" and then republished in 1994 as "Caminada - Crime Buster" (ISBN 1-874358-13-3).Caminada died in 1914 at his home in
Moss Side at the age of 70, as a result of injuries he had received in a bus accident inNorth Wales the previous year. He is buried in Manchester's Southern Cemetery.Harvnb|Greater Manchester Police|1989|p=24.]References
Notes
Bibliography
*citation |last=Greater Manchester Police |title=The Police! 150 Years of Policing in the Manchester Area |publisher=Archive Publications |location=Runcorn |year=1989 |isbn=0948946490
*citation |last=O'Neill |first=Joseph |title=Crime City: Manchester's Victorian Underworld |year=2008 |publisher=Milo Books |isbn=9781903854778External links
* [http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1874358133/manchesteruk-21?creative=6394&camp=1406&link_code=as1 Amazon's Caminada: Crime Buster page]
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