Around the 1900's street illumination was nothing like it is now, it was easy when chasing suspects to loose them down dark alleys and unlit streets. This was a great cause for concern and many suspects were never apprehended because of the dark.
Detectives attempted to train cats to track suspects, they had moderate success. Cats were trained to follow a suspect until they entered a house. Once this happened they were expected to locate their handlers by back tracking to their release point. Upon reaching their handlers they would then re-trace their route to the suspects residence where the police would obviously take over. It was a good system who would suspect that a cat roaming the streets would give a suspects position away.
The problems they faced included
bumping into other cats and getting distracted in various ways
coming across rats and mice and following these instead
Not coming back to the handlers for a few days (as cats often do their own thing)
These problems and the advent of better illumination of streets caused the abandonment of the cats role in crime solving. Cats still associate the police but only in the role as police station cat and vermin control advisers.
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