Why the long delay of winston and julias apprehention??

[chris420]

I just finished reading 1984 and i thought it was an awesome book.

I was wondering, though

Why did the thought police wait so long to apprehend winston and julia?

They had been to they're "hide out" multiple times

The police had obviously been on to them for a long time

They had already been into winstons appartment reading his diary

Why the whole "fake brotherhood" and giving him the book to read and all the shinanagens?? was it just to make a more interesting tale, or is there any valid reason why the thought police did'nt scoop them up much earlier in the story??

[damadin]

perhaps they wanted to find out if winston (and perhaps also julia) is a adequate character für beeing reeducated... (not just beeing vamporised.. he has to go out and has to live a life in which he loves big brother)

[Teacher]

i think that they wanted to know if he would go thourgh w/ anything that broke the law.

[Demosthenese]

I think that the thought police needed to find out about Winston so they knew what to use on him in torture. what he liked, what he hated, what he does, Etc.