Greater London
Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...
's Metropolitan Police Service, responsible for providing a centrally based mobile capacity to combat serious public disorder, crime, and terrorism, that could not be dealt with by local
divisions
Division may refer to:
Mathematics
*Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication
* Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military
*Division (military), a formation typically consisting of 10,000 t ...
.
The SPG was active from 1961 to 12 January 1987. It was replaced by the Territorial Support Group (TSG), three times the size of the SPG.
History
The SPG recruited experienced
police officer
A police officer (also called policeman or policewoman, cop, officer or constable) is a Warrant (law), warranted law employee of a police, police force. In most countries, ''police officer'' is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. ...
s capable of working as striper teams, either in
uniform
A uniform is a variety of costume worn by members of an organization while usually participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are most often worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency serv ...
or in plain clothes preventing public disorder, targeting areas of serious crime, carrying out stop and searches, and providing a response to
terrorist
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...
threats. It also conducted its own surveillance and was tasked with reducing burglaries. It had a dedicated radio channel and a fleet of vans to allow it to work independently of routine divisions.
The SPG originally consisted of four units based throughout London. This was increased to six and finally to eight. Each unit comprised an
inspector
Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it.
Australia
The rank of Inspector is present in all Australian police forces excep ...
constables
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. ''Constable'' is commonly the rank of an officer within a police service. Other peo ...
.
Its position within the Metropolitan Police was unusual: whereas the Flying Squad became the symbol of the
Criminal Investigation Department
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is the branch of a police force to which most plainclothes criminal investigation, detectives belong in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth nations. A force's CID is disti ...
in London, the SPG became recognised as a unit that efficient uniformed officers could aspire to join. As such it had an exceptionally high level of ''
esprit de corps
Morale ( , ) is the capacity of a group's members to maintain belief in an institution or goal, particularly in the face of opposition or hardship. Morale is often referenced by authority figures as a generic value judgment of the willpower ...
''.
Other police forces outside London created their own versions of the Special Patrol Group. Greater Manchester Police created the Tactical Aid Group (TAG) in 1977.
Merseyside Police
Merseyside Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing Merseyside in North West England. The service area is 647 square kilometres with a population of around 1.5 million. As of September 2017 the service has 3,484 police o ...
formed the Task Force in 1974, which was disbanded in 1978 and replaced with the Operational Support Division (OSD). There was also a Special Patrol Group in Northern Ireland.
Controversy
One of the SPG's most controversial incidents came in 1979, while officers were policing a protest by the Anti-Nazi League in Southall. During a running battle, demonstrator Blair Peach was struck on the head, which caused his death; at the time it was alleged to have been an action of the SPG. In the inquiries that followed, unauthorised weapons were found in lockers kept as souvenirs by SPG officers at one of their bases after the weapons were seized; these included knives, crowbars, and sledgehammers.
No SPG officer was ever charged with the attack. An internal report was leaked, which stated that the Metropolitan Police settled with Peach's family out of court. The original Metropolitan police report, eventually officially published on 27 April 2010, concluded that the fatal blow that killed the anti-racism activist was probably made by a police officer. It is thought that "Peach's skull was crushed with an unauthorised weapon, such as a lead-weighted cosh or police radio" The internal report also concluded that some officers had conspired to cover up the circumstances of the special-needs teacher's death and strongly recommended that proceedings be taken against three officers for attempting or conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
In popular culture
Nick Lowe
Nicholas Drain Lowe (born 24 March 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer. A noted figure in Pub rock (United Kingdom), pub rock, power pop and New wave music, new wave,Nick Lowe and His Cowboy Outfit'' (1984).
In the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
sitcom '' The Young Ones'' (1982–84), the character Vyvyan Basterd's pet
hamster
Hamsters are rodents (order Rodentia) belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae, which contains 19 species classified in seven genera. They have become established as popular small pets. The best-known species of hamster is the golden or Syrian ...
was named "Special Patrol Group".
The second book of ''
The Borrible Trilogy
'' The Borrible Trilogy'' is a series of young adult books written by English writer Michael de Larrabeiti. The three volumes in the trilogy are ''The Borribles'', ''The Borribles Go For Broke'', and ''The Borribles: Across the Dark Metropolis ...
'' novels, '' The Borribles Go For Broke'' by Michael de Larrabeiti, features a parody of the SPG in the form of the "Special Borribles Group", or SBG, led by the book's villain, the fictional Inspector Sussworth.
British Oi! bands
The Exploited
The Exploited are a Scottish punk rock band from Edinburgh, formed in 1978 by Stevie Ross and Terry Buchan, with Buchan soon replaced by his brother Wattie Buchan. They signed to Secret Records in March 1981,
and Red Alert both have songs named "S.P.G.", on the albums '' Punks Not Dead'' (1981) and ''We've Got The Power'' (1983), respectively.
The Linton Kwesi Johnson song "Reggae fi Peach", on the album '' Bass Culture'' (1980), includes the refrain: "The SPG them are murderers (murderers) / We can't make them get no furtherer".
In the ''
Not the Nine O'Clock News
''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' is a British television sketch comedy show that was broadcast on BBC2 from 16 October 1979 to 8 March 1982. Originally shown as a comedy alternative to the '' Nine O'Clock News'' on BBC1, the show features satirical ...
'' Racist Police sketch, Constable Savage is transferred to the SPG.
The song "Little Boys in Blue" by the punk band The Professionals includes the lyric "Special Patrol, License to kill".