One reason for this situation was that "robbers" in the early Edo period were mostly groups of armed robbers, and when they resisted, the town magistrate officers, being unarmed, could not control them (although provided with a sword as a samurai, doshin officers in the town magistrate used to capture criminals alive with jitte (short one hook truncheon) and ladders, without using the sword.
この理由として、殊に江戸前期における「盗賊」が武装盗賊団であることが多く、それらが抵抗を行った場合に非武装の町奉行では手に負えなかった（武士の常として町奉行所の同心は帯刀してはいるものの、刀は使わず十手や梯子を使って、生きたまま犯罪者を捕らえるのが普通であった）。