This entry from October 1736 in the ever-interesting Gentlemen's Magazine records one man's attempt to protect his business (sadly, this one was a real 'fail'):  

Poor Mr Jones was suffering from one of the many notorious Hackney crime waves.  What made Hackney quite such a hot-bed of nefarious activity is unclear.  It was after all, a pretty little suburb at the time, but by 1617 there was a company of 16 nightwatchmen or constables patrolling the area.  By 1657 a 'cage' had been built in the corner of St Leonard's church yard (I think it can be seen in the engraving in the gallery) to imprison offenders caught by the Hackney watch.  In 1686, the constables were prosecuted for not keeping a proper watch.  By 1740, the beats were well-defined and the constables patrolled in pairs between the Turnpike and Cambridge Heath, where their watch house was located.  The little map section in the gallery shows the territory quite clearly (the turnpike is at the bottom).  In 1756, four more watch houses were ordered, to be paid for by parish funds and the subscriptions of residents.  Offenders were no longer kept in the cage at the church, but put under lock and key at various public houses until morning.  In 1763, the landlords of the Mermaid and the Bird in Hand protested about having to keep the prisoners and refused to take any more.  The watch was a serious business: each constable was equipped with a gun and bayonet and keen to use them.

Just north of the turnpike, you can see Mad Ho., or the Mad House, actually called Brooke House (the grand house in the gallery).  It was purchased in 1759 to be converted into an asylum and continued on until 1940, when it was badly damaged by a bomb.  Hackney was associated with private asylums, as was Hoxton and later, Bethnal Green.  The inmates were not always as well-contained as they might be, and in 1755 a Hoxton girl was found with a knife through her skull after being assaulted by an escapee.  He was caught and confessed immediately.

In 1763, Hackney raised enough money for street lighting on the worst section of the road.  Night-time robberies, of both people and premises seem to have been the big problem, but by May 1828, the parish declared itself free of night-time crime.  By this time there were 30 constables patrolling every evening after nightfall.  Hackney even petitioned against the Metropolitan Police Act of 1829, and provided evidence of over a century of efforts to control their own crime.  They also said they had driven all the criminals into lawless Tottenham.