Agency Quick Facts:

 

Formed: September 29, 1829

 

Policing Style: Commonwealth

 

Jurisdictional Authority: Greater London, United Kingdom (609 sq mi)

 

Size of Watch: 7.4 Million Residents

 

Headquarters: New Scotland Yard, Victoria, London

 

Oversight and Accountability: Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime

 

Authorized Strength: 48,000 Police Officers, Special Police Officers, Civilian and Volunteer Staff

 

Police Stations: 180

 

Commonly referred to as the Met, the Metropolitan Police Service polices the area of Greater London. Being one of the oldest and largest police services in the world, the Met has over the course of its history been shaped into one of the most professional services and its tactics and organization have laid the frame work countless other police agencies in and out of the UK.

 

Patrol: The Met's organizational structure divides responsibility and various tasks into 3 brackets. Territorial Policing, Specialist Crime and Operations and Special Operations. These departments are supplemented by a large civilian support staff which operate primarily under the control of Scotland Yard.

 

Territorial Policing handles the day to day police service for the Metropolitan Police Service District of Greater London. The 32 boroughs of London are each assigned a Borough Operational Command Unit (BOCU) and each one is led by a Chief Superintendent. Because of the high concentration of Government buildings in the City of Westminster its BOCU is led by a Commander. Each BOCU provides police officers and PCSO's to carry out Patrol, Respond to Emergencies and organize Safer Neighborhood Teams. Detectives are also attached to BOCU's.

 

Specialist Crime and Operations is made up of Officers and Civilian Support Staff focused on fighting and investigating specialized areas of crime such as homicide, Gangs and Organized Crime and rape. This unit also provides support to the Territorial Policing staff with specialized equipment and units such as the Air Support Unit, Dog Support Unit and the Territorial Support Group (TSG) (CO20)

 

The Specialist Crime and Operations branch also organizes the Specialist Firearms Command (SCO19) which is frequently referred to as London's equivalent to American Police SWAT teams. These Armed Officers provide assistance to the normally unarmed Territorial Service.

 

Specialist Operations provides more focused types of policing that differs from normal policing. Specialist Protection (SO1) is a unit that provides protection to public officials and visiting heads of state from threats of terrorism. Royalty Protection (SO14) provides protection to the Monarch and the Royal Family. The Diplomatic Protection Group (SO6) provides security for the many diplomatic missions and embassies in London. The Special Escort Group (SEG) provides mobile protection for VIPs during motorcades.

 

Rank Structure and Uniform: Metropolitan Police Officers carry the rank of Police Constable and are sometimes simply called PC's.

 

 

Rank is identified on the officers shoulder boards. Constables wear standard black shoulder boards with their identification number and the designation of their borough code. Officers above the rank of Sergeant do not have numbers and are addressed by name. Police Community Support Officers (PCSO) do not have rank structure but do carry their identification number and designation on their uniforms which are slightly different from regular police officers. As PCSOs are civilians with limited police powers their uniforms are similar but lack many of the details.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Area Cars: are used for standard patrol and respond to emergencies. Area Cars also may perform pursuit duties as well because they are larger and have bigger engines. Area Cars are typically Large 4 door sedans or the estate (Station Wagon) version. Depending on the size of the borough there typically aren't many area cars on patrol and are used to increase police presence in certain areas when the need arises. Because Area Cars carry out pursuit duties officers driving these vehicles must be trained in high speed pursuits and must occasionally be re-certified to perform pursuit duties.

 

 

 

Incident Response Vehicles: Supplement the work of officers on foot patrol. They are primarily used for patrol and emergency response. IRV's are normally smaller hatchbacks which can maneuver through the crowded and narrow streets of London. IRV's typically carry two officers who assist officers on foot patrol in the same assigned area. Although IRV's are not suited for pursuit duties they will pursue if necessary until an Area Car can assist and take over the pursuit.

 

 

 

Roads Policing Unit: Traffic units have the primary responsibility of enforcing traffic laws. Traffic cars are typically painted with the high visibility battenburg markings to be more conspicuous to road users. Traffic Cars are also fitted with Automated Number Plate Readers (ANPR) to track the license plates of passing vehicles for infractions or wanted persons. They can also help find stolen vehicles. Traffic Units also respond to emergencies like Area Cars do if needed. Traffic cars are often high performance versions of standard police cars.

 

 

 

Public Order Vans/Carriers: Transport groups of officers to a scene all at once rather than the need for multiple cars. Vans of the TSG are called public order vans and feature riot shields. TSG officers respond to emergencies where standard officers on patrol are severely outnumbered and a large disturbance has the potential to get out of hand quickly. Vans that do not feature the riot shield are simply called Carriers. Carriers also transport specialized equipment and dog units.

 

 

 

Armed Response Vehicles: Transport Armed Police officers to active shootings and scenes where individuals are carrying dangerous weapons. Because of the sensitivity of time when Armed Response is needed ARV's are high performance police cars in similar specifications to pursuit area cars. The only notable difference are the Yellow Placards on the exterior of the vehicle which denote the officers inside are armed. ARV's typically carry at least 3 officers at a time.