The President’s speech
The following quotation from a speech by the President explains the objects and methods of the Nottinghamshire Association for the Prosecution of Felons and Swindlers:
“My principal aim has been to render it (i.e. the Society) a Terror to evil doers, a scourge to the lawless depredator … to be the means of checking the growing propensities of the fraudulent and designing in order to protect the property of the neighbourhood in general, and that of our own members in particular … and the concurrence of the Magistracy with our united exertions, (has been shown) by granting allowances in aid of the expenses attending such convictions; and in some instances, even where conviction was not obtained, the efforts were judged so laudable as to procure unsolicited remuneration …. It would redound much to the general good of the Association were every Member to be secretly watchful over the conduct of such as are in the least suspected (in their neighbourhood), especially such as have been in their employment, and who know the different apartments and recesses in their Dwellings or other buildings, and to be circumspectly vigilant in pursuing (the least trace of guilt) through the most intricate mazes and windings…”