Metropolitan Police Service

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Metropolitan Police redirects here. See also metropolitan police.

Template:Infobox UK Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) (commonly referred to by its former official name of the Metropolitan Police, or colloquially as The Met; often referred to in legislation as the Police of the Metropolis) is the Home Office (territorial) police force responsible for Greater London, England, with the exception of the square mile of the City of London, which has its own police force, the City of London Police.

The Metropolitan Police's headquarters are at New Scotland Yard in Westminster, commonly known as Scotland Yard. The head of the Metropolitan Police Service is the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis (usually referred to as the Commissioner). The post was first held jointly by Colonel Sir Charles Rowan and Sir Richard Mayne, and is currently held by Sir Ian Blair. The Commissioner is responsible to the Metropolitan Police Authority.

1 Area covered
2 Structure
3 History
4 Police ranks
5 Police numbers
6 See also
7 External links

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Area covered

The Metropolitan Police Service covers an area known as the Metropolitan Police District (MPD), which today coincides with Greater London, excluding the City of London.

Before April 1, 2000, the MPD covered a larger area, established well before the current borders of Greater London were set. This larger area covered parts of Surrey, Hertfordshire and Essex, specifically all of Epsom and Ewell, Hertsmere and Spelthorne districts, along with Banstead, Cheshunt, Chigwell, Esher, Northaw and Cuffley, Waltham Abbey.

Along with the Metropolitan Police Service and the City of London Police, Greater London is also policed by the Ministry of Defence Police (responsible for policing of Ministry of Defence property) and the British Transport Police (responsible for policing on the rail systems, London Underground, Tramlink and Docklands Light Railway). The English part of the Royal Parks Constabulary, which patrolled a number of Greater London's major parks, was absorbed into the Metropolitan Police Service in 2004. There are also a very small number of full police power parks police forces, such as the Royal Botanic Gardens Constabulary (which polices the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew) and Hampstead Heath Constabulary, whose officers have full police powers within their limited jurisdiction, but all substantial crime and incidents remain the responsibility of the Metropolitan Police.

Some London boroughs also maintain their own borough park constabularies (such as Newham Parks Constabulary); however, their remit and powers only extend to park bye-laws, meaning constables of borough parks constabularies are not police officers as such, with any crime remaining the responsibilty of the Metropolitan Police.

The Metropolitan Police has Borough Operational Command Units for each of the 32 London Boroughs, with another for Heathrow Airport. Historically, boroughs were grouped into numbered areas, but these are no longer generally in use, save for a few administrative reasons. From 1994 to 2000 there were five: Central (consisting of the City of Westminster with Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith and Fulham, and North-West, North-East, South-East and South-West). Prior to 1994 there had been eight divisions: North, East, South East, South, South West, West, North West and Westminster.

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Structure

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Being such a large police force, the Metropolitan Police is organised into several large commands.

Territorial Policing (TP) is comprised of the 32 Borough Operational Command Units that police every London borough. Assistant Commissioner Tim Godwin commands.
Specialist Operations (SO) is broadly comprised of those units that perform tasks of national importance, such as the Anti-Terrorist Branch and the Diplomatic Protection Group. In overall charge is Assistant Commissioner Andy Hayman
Specialist Crime (SCD) deals with serious and organised crimes that are not dealt with by local boroughs. Units include Homicide and the Economic and Specialist Crime unit. The directorate is led by Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur.
Central Operations (CO), led by Assistant Commissioner Stephen House, provides units that support the rest of the service. These include the Specialist Firearms Command, Territorial Support Group and Thames Division.
Deputy Commissioner's Command (DCC) encompasses several strategic units, such as Diversity and Professional Standards. The Deputy Commissoner, Paul Stephenson leads.

Other major directorates are Resources, Information, Human Resources and Public Affairs.

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History

The service was established on September 29, 1829, by the then Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel, giving rise to the nicknames of "Peelers" or "Bobbies" for members of the force. The Metropolitan Police was the second official non-paramilitary police force in the world (after the City of Glasgow Police), and is generally regarded as the first to be organised on a modern civil police basis.

Image:London.police.car.arp.750pix.jpg Until the middle of the 18th century, no police force operated in London. General law and order was maintained by magistrates, volunteer constables, watchmen and, where necessary, the armed forces. If a victim of crime wished to pursue an offender they could employ a "thief taker" who earned a living from such payments and, in the case of notorious offenders, the rewards offered by the courts. The novelist Henry Fielding, was appointed a magistrate in Westminster in 1748. His house at No. 4 Bow Street had been established as a courtroom in 1739 by the previous owner Sir Thomas de Veil. Fielding brought together eight trustworthy constables, who came to be known as the Bow Street Runners, and gave them the authority to enforce the decisions of magistrates. Fielding's blind half-brother Sir John Fielding (known as the "Blind Beak of Bow Street") succeeded his brother as magistrate in 1754 and refined the patrol into the first truly effective police force for the capital, although the Runners were still essentially magistrate's officers and not patrolling police officers.

By 1792 salaried constables were being paid by local magistrates, and 1798 saw the establishment of the Marine Police, a private body based in Wapping and organised primarily to police the docks and prevent the theft of cargo. This force later amalgamated with the Met to form its Thames Division, which still exists to patrol the river.

Image:Police.three.on.patrol.london.arp.jpg During the early 19th century, the Industrial Revolution saw London become a much larger city. It became clear that the system of locally maintained constabularies was ineffective in the prevention and detection of crime amongst such a large population. Royal Assent was given to the Metropolitan Police Act on 19 June 1829. This act placed the policing of the capital directly under the control of the Home Secretary. The initial force consisted of around 1,000 men with instructions to patrol the streets within a seven mile radius of Charing Cross in order to prevent crime and pursue offenders. In 1857 the Commissioner Richard Mayne was paid a salary of £1,883, and his two Assistant Commissioners were paid salaries of £800 each [1].

It took some time to establish the standards of discipline we expect today from a police force. For instance, in 1863, 215 officers were arrested during the year for drunkenness. One of the priorities of the police force from the beginning was "maintaining public order", and they were very active for example against the major Chartist demonstrations. The force continued to be controlled directly by the Home Secretary until 2000, when the newly created Greater London Authority was given responsibility for the force, by means of the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA). The MPA is made up of members appointed by the Mayor of London and the London Assembly, and several independent members. However the Metropolitan Police Commissioner is still appointed by the Home Secretary.

On 1 April 2000, the boundaries of the MPD were altered to conform exactly with those of Greater London, excluding the City of London.

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Police ranks

The Metropolitan Police uses the standard UK police ranks on shoulder boards up to Chief Superintendent, but it has five ranks above that level compared to the standard three.

Police Constable (PC) (Division Call Sign and Shoulder Number)
Acting Sergeant (two or three point down chevrons over Shoulder Number with Division Call Sign)
Sergeant (Sgt or PS) (three point down chevrons over Shoulder Number with Division Call Sign)
Inspector (Insp) (two stars of the Order of the Bath, informally known as pips)
Chief Inspector (Ch Insp) (three pips)
Superintendent (Supt) (crown)
Chief Superintendent (Ch Supt) (crown over one pip)
Commander (Cmdr) (Commander's badge: crossed tipstaves in a laurel wreath)
Deputy Assistant Commissioner (DAC) (one pip over Commander's badge)
Assistant Commissioner (AC) (crown over Commander's badge)
Deputy Commissioner (crown above two small pips, placed side-by-side, above Commander's badge)
Commissioner (crown above one pip above Commander's badge) [2]

The prefix 'Woman' in front of female officers' ranks — as in Woman Police Constable (WPC) and Woman Police Sergeant (WPS) — is now obsolete. Members of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) up to and including the rank of chief superintendent prefix their ranks with 'Detective'. Other departments, such as Special Branch and Child Protection, award non-detectives 'Branch Detective' status, allowing them to use the 'detective' prefix. The Metropolitan Police also has several active Police Cadet units. [3]

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Police numbers

The numbers of officers in the Metropolitan Police Service:

2005 — 30,265 regular police officers, 750 Special Constables, 500 traffic wardens, 1,430 Police Community Support Officers, 12,500 police staff
2003 — approximately 29,000
2001 — approximately 25,000 (London population 7,172,000)
1984 — approximately 27,000

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