In addition to their frankpledge obligations, constables were responsible for overseeing the "watch-and-ward" system (the night watch) and for providing security for traveling justices.
After request for comment, the Home Office reiterated that "chief constables are responsible for operational decisions in their local area and we are not standing in their way".
Mr Tony Clement, South Yorkshire's assistant chief constable, was responsible for the police operation.
However, he said: "I have asked a deputy chief constable who is responsible for issues of misconduct, to write to Mr Baxter asking him to give us an account of what happened, by who, when and to give us the detail behind his statement yesterday so we can make an objective assessment on that and see where we go.
Although the Constable was still responsible for maintaining the castle and its garrison, from an early stage he had a subordinate to help with this duty: the Lieutenant of the Tower.
The principles were that a) chief constables should be exclusively responsible for decisions to enforce the law in particular cases, b) that they should be answerable for those decisions afterwards to elected public bodies (in the Northern Ireland case, the Policing Board) and, c) the partly elected board should set the budget and the three to five-year strategic priorities for the police service.
Deputy Chief Constable Jon Boutcher, who is currently responsible for undercover policing, said: "Unacceptable behaviour by a number of undercover officers in the past has been brought to light and is being investigated.
Paul Crowther, chief constable of British Transport police, responsible for crime fighting on the railways said more must be done: "Wednesday night's disgraceful behaviour on the Paris Metro is not an isolated incident.
Mick Gianassi, the assistant chief constable of Merseyside police, which was responsible for policing Saturday's Everton v Man Utd game, told Sky Sports News he believed evening kick-offs made controlling crowd trouble more difficult.
These disgruntled republicans were responsible for murdering the Catholic PSNI constable Ronan Kerr with an under-car booby trap in April 2011.
