Today there are policemen everywhere, but in 1700 London had no policemen at all. A few old men used to protect the city streets at night and they were not paid much.
About 300 years ago, London was starting to get bigger. More and more people went to live and work there. However, there were many thieves in the streets, so most people wanted to stay in their homes as much as possible.
In 1750, Henry Fielding started to pay a group of people to stop thieves. They were like policemen, but they were called "Bow Street Runners" because they worked just near Bow Street. Fifty years later, there were 120 Bow Street Runners, but London became very big and needed more policemen.
In 1829, the first London Police Force was started with 3, 000 officers. Most of the men worked on foot, but a few rode horses. And until 1920 all the police in London were men.
Today London Police are quite well paid and for the few police officers who still ride horses, the pay is even better than for the others.