In 1785 a Bill was brought forth by William Pitt’s Government which upheld much of the Fieldings’ ideas, but went even farther. It “embodied all the major proposals of the last thirty years and, presenting them in an imaginative sweep, anticipated Peel’s Metropolitan Police Act by nearly half a century”. Pitt’s Bill  provided for the establishment of a strong police force to act throughout the whole of the Metropolitan area (including the City) . . .  The Crown was to be empowered to appoint a board of three salaried commissioners of police . . .  The Metropolitan area was to be divided into nine divisions, in each of which was to be a force of ‘petty constables’ under the command of a chief constable . . .  The constables were to patrol on foot and on horseback, and to be armed with powers of search and arrest. They were to be forbidden to receive tips or other rewards. The existing parish constables and watchmen were to be retained, but their duties were to be co-ordinated with those of the regular police. Existing Metropolitan justices were to be stripped of their executive police duties and confined to the exercise of judicial functions only.