Captain Arthur Baker became the head of Trinidad's police force in the early 1880s and was determined to end the canboulay as a threat to public order. In 1881, Trinidad's police force clashed with revellers in Port of Spain who had banded together against the police. This caused resentment amongst the ordinary people of Trinidad who valued the festival despite the clashes. Due to the feelings of the population, Governor Sir Sanford Freeling confined police to barracks in order to calm down the situation. However, when Freeling was recalled in 1883, Baker sought to crack down at the canboulay in the southern cities of San Fernando and Princes Town during the carnival of 1884.