Woman Police Constable
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The history of the Metropolitan Police in London is long and complex, with many different events taking place between its inception in 1829 and the present day.


Pre-1829 London policing

Before the passing of the
Metropolitan Police Act 1829 The Metropolitan Police Act 1829 ( 10 Geo. 4. c. 44) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and ...
, law enforcement among the general population in England was carried out by unpaid
parish constable A parish constable, also known as a petty constable, was a Law enforcement agency, law enforcement Police officer, officer, usually unpaid and part-time, serving a Civil parishes in England, parish. The position evolved from the ancient ''headboroug ...
s who were elected, and later appointed by the local justice of the peace. In certain circumstances, such as serious public disorder, the
army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...
would intervene to support the local authorities;
yeomanry Yeomanry is a designation used by a number of units and sub-units in the British Army Reserve which are descended from volunteer cavalry regiments that now serve in a variety of different roles. History Origins In the 1790s, following the ...
were extensively used for this purpose before police forces developed. Because this system of policing was largely unorganised and lacked a criminal investigation capability, the novelist
Henry Fielding Henry Fielding (22 April 1707 – 8 October 1754) was an English writer and magistrate known for the use of humour and satire in his works. His 1749 comic novel ''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'' was a seminal work in the genre. Along wi ...
(who had been appointed a Magistrate in 1748) introduced the first detective force, known as the
Bow Street Runners The Bow Street Runners were the law enforcement officers of the Bow Street Magistrates' Court in the City of Westminster. They have been called London's first professional police force. The force originally numbered six men and was founded in 1 ...
, in 1753. Fielding's house at 4 Bow Street had been established as a courtroom by the previous owner, in 1739. Fielding's force was made up of eight constables who also investigated crimes handed over to them by the volunteer constables and
watchmen ''Watchmen'' is a comic book Limited series (comics), limited series by the British creative team of writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons, and colorist John Higgins (comics), John Higgins. It was published monthly by DC Comics in 1986 and 19 ...
. Runners were identified by carrying a
tipstaff A tipstaff is an officer of a court or, in some countries, a law clerk to a judge. The duties of the position vary from country to country. It is also the name of a symbolic rod, which represents the authority of the tipstaff or other officials s ...
with the Royal Crown on it, which had a compartment inside to store official identification and documents. In 1805 the Bow Street Horse Patrol, the first form of uniformed policing seen in the capital, was established alongside the Runners, later amalgamating into the Metropolitan Police in 1837. Unofficial "
thief-taker In English legal history, a thief-taker was a private individual hired to capture criminals. The widespread establishment of professional police in England did not occur until the 19th century. With the rising crime rate and newspapers to bring t ...
s" operated independently from the Bow Street Runners, being employed by fee-paying members of the public to catch criminals and present them before a magistrate. By 1798, the year the
Marine Police Force The Thames River Police was formed in 1800 to tackle theft and looting from ships anchored in the Pool of London and in the lower reaches and docks of the Thames. It replaced the Marine Police, a police force established in 1798 by magistrate ...
was established, salaried constables were being paid by local magistrates. The Marine Police was initially made up of 220 Constables assisted by 1,000 registered dock workers, and was responsible for preventing the theft of cargo on and around the
River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...
. The London Marine Police Force is widely regarded as being the first modern police force in the world, in the sense that they were not government controlled and were responsible for the prevention of crime. In its first year of operation 2,000 offenders were found guilty of theft from the docks. This success led to the enacting of the Marine Police Bill, which made it the first publicly funded
preventive police Preventive police is that aspect of law enforcement intended to act as a deterrent to the commission of crime. Preventive policing is considered a defining characteristic of the modern police, typically associated with Robert Peel's London Metrop ...
force in the history of English policing.


The new police

During the late 18th and early 19th century, the
Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...
witnessed an exponential expansion in London's size and economic importance. It became clear that the locally maintained system of volunteer constables and "
watchmen ''Watchmen'' is a comic book Limited series (comics), limited series by the British creative team of writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons, and colorist John Higgins (comics), John Higgins. It was published monthly by DC Comics in 1986 and 19 ...
" was disorganised and inefficient in the deterrence, detection and prevention of crime. As a result, a parliamentary committee was appointed to investigate the current system of policing. Upon
Sir Robert Peel Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850), was a British Conservative statesman who twice was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–1835, 1841–1846), and simultaneously was Chancellor of the Exchequer (1834–183 ...
being appointed as
Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, more commonly known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom and the head of the Home Office. The position is a Great Office of State, maki ...
in 1822, he established a second and more effective committee, and acted upon its findings. Believing that the way to standardise the police was to make it an official paid profession, to organise it in a civilian fashion, and to make it answerable to the public, Peel put a bill before
Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
, which passed as the
Metropolitan Police Act 1829 The Metropolitan Police Act 1829 ( 10 Geo. 4. c. 44) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and ...
, given
royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in othe ...
on 19 June 1829. placing the policing arrangements for the capital directly under the control of Sir Robert Peel. Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Charles Rowan and Sir Richard Mayne were appointed the new force's first
Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to incl ...
s and this has remained its highest rank, unlike other modern British police forces, which are led by Chief Constables. The two Commissioners' original headquarters was near
Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
, at 4
Whitehall Place Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London, England. The road forms the first part of the A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea. It is the main thoroughfare running south from Trafalgar Square towards Pa ...
, with a back entrance on
Great Scotland Yard Great Scotland Yard is a street in Westminster, London, connecting Northumberland Avenue and Whitehall. By the 16th century, this "yard", which was then a series of open courtyards within the Palace of Whitehall, was fronted by buildings used ...
.
Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's London boroughs, 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original ...
soon became established as a name for the force itself. Once formed, the force became the third official non-
paramilitary A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...
city police force in the world, after the
City of Glasgow Police The City of Glasgow Police or Glasgow City Police was the police organisation covering the city and royal burgh of Glasgow, from 1800 to 1893, and the county of city of Glasgow, from 1893 to 1975. In the 17th century, Scottish cities used to ...
and the
Paris Police The Paris Police Prefecture ( ), officially the Police Prefecture (), is the unit of the French Ministry of the Interior that provides police, emergency services, and various administrative services to the population of the city of Paris and t ...
. Due to public fears concerning the deployment of the military in domestic matters, Robert Peel organised the force along civilian lines, rather than
paramilitary A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...
. To appear neutral, the uniform was deliberately manufactured in blue, rather than red which was then a military colour, along with the officers being armed only with a wooden truncheon and a rattle to signal the need for assistance. Until 1864, police officers also wore top hats, to complete the civilian look. Along with this,
police ranks Police ranks are a system of hierarchy, hierarchical relationships in police organizations. The rank system defines authority and responsibility in a police organization, and affects the Police culture, culture within the police force. Police rank ...
did not include military titles, with the exception of
Sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a Military rank, rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage f ...
. The original standard wage for a Constable was one
guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...
(£1.05) a week. Recruitment criteria required applicants to be under the age of 35, in good health, and to be at least . Working shifts lasted 12 hours, 6 days a week, with Sunday as a rest day. Until 1897, Metropolitan Police officers did not receive a boot allowance. The civilian ethos also meant that the force did not routinely carry firearms, although Sir Robert Peel authorised the Commissioners to purchase fifty flintlock pocket pistols for use in exceptional circumstances, such as those which involved the use of firearms. At the time,
burglary Burglary, also called breaking and entering (B&E) or housebreaking, is a property crime involving the illegal entry into a building or other area without permission, typically with the intention of committing a further criminal offence. Usually ...
(or "house breaking" as it was then called) was a common problem for police. "House breakers" were usually armed. It was then also legal (under the
Bill of Rights 1689 The Bill of Rights 1689 (sometimes known as the Bill of Rights 1688) is an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), act of the Parliament of England that set out certain basic civil rights and changed the succession to the Monarchy of England, Engl ...
) for members of the public who were
Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
, as most were, to own and use firearms.


19th century


1829–1859

Metropolitan Police patrols took to the streets on 29 September 1829, despite resistance from certain elements of the community who saw them to be a threat to
civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties of ...
. The initial force consisted of two
Commissioners A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a Wiktionary: commission, commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissi ...
, eight Superintendents, 20 Inspectors, 88
Sergeants Sergeant (Sgt) is a rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage from the British ...
and 895
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 ...
. Patrolling the streets within a seven-mile (11 km) radius of
Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Since the early 19th century, Charing Cross has been the notional "centre of London" and became the point from which distances from London are measured. ...
, in order to prevent crime and pursue offenders. Between 1829 and 1830, 17 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 ...
each with a central
police station A police station is a facility operated by police or a similar law enforcement agency that serves to accommodate police officers and other law enforcement personnel. The role served by a police station varies by agency, type, and jurisdiction, ...
were established, with each division assigned a letter."Districts" and "Division" in Martin Fido and Keith Skinner, ''The Official Encyclopedia of Scotland Yard'' (Virgin Publishing: London, 1999), pages 70-71 These divisions were: On 28 June 1830, Constable
Joseph Grantham Police Constable Joseph Grantham (died 1830) was the first police officer to be killed whilst on duty in the United Kingdom. Joseph Grantham was a police officer in the Metropolitan Police Service which had been formally established in 1829. Wh ...
became the first member of the force to be killed in the line of duty, an incident described by the Coroner's Inquest as "justifiable homicide". Other indications of the Constabulary's unpopularity of the time, were such nicknames as 'Raw Lobsters', 'Blue Devils' and 'Peel's Bloody Gang'. Officers were physically assaulted, others impaled, blinded, and on one occasion held down while a vehicle was driven over them. One of the Metropolitan Police's priorities from the outset was maintaining public order, particularly the Chartist demonstrations in 1839, 1842 and 1848, a role in which they were supplemented by Special Constables, first introduced by the
Special Constables Act 1831 The Special Constables Act 1831 ( 1 & 2 Will. 4. c. 41), full title ''An Act for amending the Laws relative to the Appointment of Special Constables, and for the better Preservation of the Peace'', was a UK act of Parliament, given royal assent ...
, empowering Magistrates to appoint ordinary citizens as temporary police officers in times of emergency. In 1834, the Act was extended to allow citizens appointed as Specials to act outside of their Parish area. They supplemented the regular Metropolitan Police in maintaining public order, particularly against the final Chartist demonstrations in 1848, when 150,000 Specials were sworn in to assist regular officers in preventing Chartists from reaching Kennington and then marching to Westminster. In 1839, the MPD was expanded to a 15-mile radius from Charing Cross, the
Foot Patrol In police terminology, a beat is the territory that a police officer is assigned to patrol. Beats are used to effectively divide available officers across a law enforcement agency's jurisdiction, ensuring organized police presence across a wide a ...
and the Horse Patrol were amalgamated with the Metropolitan Police, and the Bow Street Runners disbanded (with its personnel moved to the Metropolitan Police). 60 police officers were dispatched to
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
in July of that year where they were involved in the suppression of Chartist meetings leading to the Bull Ring Riots. Also the
City of London Police The City of London Police is the territorial police force#United Kingdom, territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the City of London, England, including the Middle Temple, Middle and Inner Temple, Inner Temples. The for ...
(CoLP), was founded as an independent force, something which has remained to this day. The River Police was also merged into the Metropolitan Police that year and renamed Thames Division, expanding from its origins in London's commercial docks to cover the whole section of the
River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...
within the MPD - this included the stretch along the south bank of the
City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...
(since CoLP did not maintain its own river police) and originally stretched from
Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...
to Blackwall before later being extended eastwards to the Thames-
Darent The Darent is a Kentish tributary of the River Thames and takes the waters of the River Cray as a tributary in the tidal portion of the Darent near Crayford. ' Darenth' is frequently found as the spelling of the river's name in older books and ...
confluence. The Metropolitan Police was formed without detectives since that role had previously been undertaken by the Runners, but in 1842 it formed a new investigative force named the "Detective Branch". It initially consisted of two
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 ...
s, six
Sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a Military rank, rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage f ...
s and a number of
Constable 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 ...
s."Police" in Ben Weinreb and Christopher Hibbert (1983)'' The London Encyclopedia'': 605–9 One of its first cases was the Bermondsey Horror of 1849, in which a married couple, Frederick and Marie Manning, murdered Patrick O'Connor and buried his body under the kitchen floor. After going on the run they were tracked down by Detective Sergeants Thornton and Langley and publicly hanged outside Horsemonger Gaol in
Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...
. When Sir Charles Rowan died, another army officer, William Hay, was drafted in to jointly run the force with Mayne. However, tensions between them meant that on Hay's death in 1855 a new system of a single Commissioner and two Assistant Commissioners was established. In 1857 Matne was paid a salary of £1,883 (roughly equivalent to £191,100 in 2021), and his two Assistant Commissioners were paid salaries £800 each, approximately £81,190 in 2021.


1860–1899

In 1860, the Metropolitan Police also took on responsibility for the policing of the Royal Dockyards and other royal naval bases between 1860 until 1934, including
Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...
, Chatham, Devonport, Royal Naval Air Station Pembroke, and the Royal Woolwich Arsenal. It took some time to establish the standards of discipline expected today from a police force. In 1863, 215 officers were arrested for being intoxicated while on duty, In 1872 there was a police strike, and during 1877 three high ranking detectives were tried for corruption. Due to this latter scandal the Detective Branch was re-organised in 1878 by C. E. Howard Vincent, and renamed 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 ...
(CID). This was separated from the uniformed branch, and its head had direct access to the Home Secretary, by-passing the Commissioner. Following the deaths of officers by firearms on the outer
districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...
of the
metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural area for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big city b ...
, and public debate on arming the force, the Commissioner applied to the Home Secretary for authorisation to supply officers on the outer districts with revolvers. The authorisation was issued on the condition that revolvers would only be issued if, in the opinion of the senior officer, the officer could be trusted to use it safely and with discretion. From then, officers could be armed. The vast majority of this system had been phased out by the end of the 19th century, though the practice only wholly ceased in 1936 with the revocation of authorisation to carry revolvers on outer districts. The 1860s also saw the decommissioning of the flintlock pistols purchased in 1829. They were superseded by 622
Beaumont–Adams revolver The Beaumont–Adams revolver is a black powder, double-action, percussion revolver. Originally adopted by the British Army in .442 calibre (54-bore, 11.2 mm) in 1856, it was replaced in British service in 1880 by the .476 calibre (11.6 mm) E ...
s firing the .450 cartridge, which were loaned to the police by the Army after the
Clerkenwell bombing The Clerkenwell explosion, also known as the Clerkenwell Outrage, was a bombing attack carried out by the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) in London on 13 December 1867. Members of the IRB, who were nicknamed "Fenians", exploded a bomb to tr ...
. In 1883, officers were surveyed as to whether they wished to be armed. 4,430 out of 6,325 officers serving on outer divisions requested to the issue revolvers. The now obsolete Beaumont-Adams revolver was returned to stores for emergencies, and the Bulldog 'Metropolitan Police' revolver was issued to officers on the outer districts who felt the need to be armed. In 1865 three more divisions were created: W (Clapham), X (Willesden), and Y (Highgate). F Division was abolished by the late 1860s and its territory merged into E Division. From 1869 onwards the Met's Divisions were grouped as Districts, each initially headed by a District Superintendent: * No. 1 District - G, H, K, N, and Thames Divisions * No. 2 District - D, E, S, X, and Y Divisions * No. 3 District - A, B, C, T, and V Divisions * No. 4 District - L, M, P, R, and W Divisions In March 1883, the MPS formed the Special Irish Branch to combat the threat of Irish terrorism. The "Irish" sobriquet was dropped in 1888 as the department remit was extended to cover other threats, and became known simply as
Special Branch Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security and Intelligence (information gathering), intelligence in Policing in the United Kingdom, British, Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, ...
. In 1884, the MPS replaced the hand rattles used by officers to signal for assistance since 1829 with "police whistles". J.Hudson & Company of Birmingham supplied 7,175 whistles at the price of 11d each. At the same time, the Metropolitan Police also replaced its police truncheons. In 1886, in quelling a riot between warring working parties in Hyde Park, many truncheons were damaged or broken. Ross & Company supplied them with ''
lignum vitae Lignum vitae (), also called guayacan or guaiacum, and in parts of Europe known as Pockholz or pokhout, is a wood from trees of the genus '' Guaiacum''. The trees are indigenous to the Caribbean and the northern coast of South America (e.g., Co ...
'' truncheons. Samples were sent off to be tested by the Royal Army Clothing Department, at a cost of 16 shillings per day. The ''lignum vitae'' truncheons were found unsuitable and so in October 1886 the Metropolitan Police purchased £900 worth of lancewood and
cocuswood ''Brya ebenus'', the Jamaican raintree, espino de sabana, granadillo, cocus wood, cocuswood, and coccuswood, is a species of plant in the pea family, Fabaceae. It is native to Cuba, and it has been introduced to Jamaica. Horticulturally it is kn ...
for new truncheons. Important criminal investigations of the period included the
Whitechapel murders The Whitechapel murders were committed in or near the impoverished Whitechapel District (Metropolis), Whitechapel district in the East End of London between 3 April 1888 and 13 February 1891. At various points some or all of these eleven unso ...
(1888) and the
Cleveland Street scandal The Cleveland Street scandal occurred in 1889, when a homosexual male brothel and Love hotel, house of assignation on Cleveland Street, London, was discovered by police. The government was accused of covering up the scandal to protect the names ...
(1889). 1886 also saw the creation of a new J (Bethnal Green) and F (Paddington) Divisions. On the night of 18 February 1887, PC 52206 Henry Owen became the first Metropolitan Police officer to fire a revolver while on duty, doing so after he was unable to alert the owners of premises on fire. The Metropolitan Police also continued policing demonstrations such as that by the unemployed in
Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster in Central London. It was established in the early-19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. Its name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar, the Royal Navy, ...
in 1887 which came to be known as
Bloody Sunday Bloody Sunday may refer to: Historical events Canada * Bloody Sunday (1923), a day of police violence during a steelworkers' strike for union recognition in Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia * Bloody Sunday (1938), police violence agai ...
. Officers on duty during the jubilee celebrations the same year were eligible for the
Queen Victoria Police Jubilee Medal A Police Jubilee Medal was awarded to those on duty at Queen Victoria's Golden and Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Eligibility The Police Golden Jubilee Medal was sanctioned by Queen Victoria in 1887 as an award to all members of the Metropolitan ...
, with similar police-specific medals following for the jubilee of 1897 and the coronations in
1902 Events January * January 1 ** The Nurses Registration Act 1901 comes into effect in New Zealand, making it the first country in the world to require state registration of nurses. On January 10, Ellen Dougherty becomes the world's ...
and
1911 Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory are added to the Commonwealth of Australia. * January 3 ** 1911 Kebin earthquake: An earthquake of 7.7 m ...
.


20th century


1900–1918

By 1900, the service had grown to nearly 16,000 officers, organised into 21 divisions, responsible for law enforcement within an area of nearly 1,800 km2. Detection of crimes was much improved when
Sir Edward Henry Sir Edward Richard Henry, 1st Baronet, (26 July 1850 – 19 February 1931) was the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis (head of the Metropolitan Police of London) from 1903 to 1918. His time in the post saw the first discussions on the ...
, Commissioner from 1903 to 1918, set up a Fingerprint Bureau at
Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's London boroughs, 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original ...
in 1901, building on
Azizul Haque Azizul Haque, () meaning "strong in the truth", is a male Muslim given name. Notable bearers of the name include: * Qazi Azizul Haque (1872–1935), also Khan Bahadur Qazi Azizul Huq, Quazi Syed Azizul Haque, police officer and fingerprint pioneer ...
and
Hem Chandra Bose Rai Bahadur Hem Chandra Bose (1867-1949) was an Indian police officer and mathematician at the Calcutta Anthropometric Bureau (later the Fingerprint Bureau). Supervised by Edward Henry, he and Azizul Haque developed the Henry Classification ...
's work with him in India.Gary Mason (2004) ''The Official History of Scotland Yard'': 31 A landmark case for the Met in forensic investigation was the
Stratton Brothers case Alfred Edward Stratton (1882-1905) and his brother Albert Ernest Stratton (1884-1905) were the first men to be convicted in United Kingdom, Britain for murder based on fingerprint evidence. They were both executed at 9 am on 23 May 1905 at HM P ...
of 1905, concerning a double
murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...
in
Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, in the Royal Borough of Greenwich and London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a Ford (crossing), ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century ...
, committed by Alfred and Albert Stratton, the first murder conviction in the UK secured by fingerprint evidence. Another important investigation of this period was that into the murderer
Hawley Harvey Crippen Hawley Harvey Crippen (11 September 1862 – 23 November 1910), colloquially known as Dr. Crippen, was an American Homeopathy, homeopath, Otolaryngology, ear and Ophthalmology, eye specialist and medicine dispenser who was hanged in HM Prison P ...
in 1910. Two robberies by Latvian anarchists reopened the debate over arming the Metropolitan and City police forces. The first in 1909 led to the pursuit known as the
Tottenham Outrage The Tottenham Outrage of 23 January 1909 was an armed robbery in Tottenham, North London, that resulted in a two-hour chase between the police and armed criminals over a distance of , with an estimated 400 rounds of ammunition fired by the thie ...
, in which officers borrowed bystanders' guns and one officer was fatally shot by the robbers. The second in
Houndsditch Houndsditch is a street running through parts of the Portsoken and Bishopsgate Without wards of the City of London; areas which are also a part of the East End of London. The road follows the line of the outside edge of the ditch which once ...
on 16 December 1910 led to the murder of three
City of London Police The City of London Police is the territorial police force#United Kingdom, territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the City of London, England, including the Middle Temple, Middle and Inner Temple, Inner Temples. The for ...
constables and the
Siege of Sidney Street The siege of Sidney Street of January 1911, also known as the Battle of Stepney, was a gunfight in the East End of London between a combined police and army force and two Latvian revolutionaries. The siege was the culmination of a series of ...
by the Metropolitan and City police forces. In this siege the two forces were supplemented by a detachment of
Scots Guards The Scots Guards (SG) is one of the five Foot guards#United Kingdom, Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. Its origins are as the personal bodyguard of King Charles I of England and Scotland. Its lineage can be traced back to 1642 in the Ki ...
from the
Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...
, authorised by Home Secretary
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...
who had come to see the siege in person. The gang members were killed on 2 January 1911 and in the wake of the incident one thousand self-loading
Webley & Scott Webley & Scott is an arms manufacturer founded in Birmingham, England. Webley produced handguns and long guns from 1834 to 1979, when the company ceased to manufacture firearms and instead turned its attention to producing air pistols and air ...
pistols were purchased by the Metropolitan Police. In 1914 the Bulldogs were withdrawn from service after thirty-one years' service and returned to stores. The Specials were also reorganised in 1912, scrapping the old system of anyone being liable to be appointed, instead they had to volunteer. During World War One the
Women's Police Service The Women's Police Service (WPS) in the UK was a national voluntary organization of women police officers that was active from 1914 until 1940. As the first uniformed women's police service in the UK, it made progress in gaining acceptance of wo ...
(WPS) and
National Union of Women Workers The National Council of Women of Great Britain (NCWGB) exists to co-ordinate the voluntary efforts of women across Great Britain. Founded as the National Union of Women Workers, it said that it would "promote sympathy of thought and purpose amon ...
(NUWW) ran voluntary patrols to assist county and city police forces such as the Metropolitan Police, though they were not formally parts of these forces and had no power of arrest. Policing of
Rosyth Dockyard Rosyth Dockyard is a large Royal Navy Dockyard, naval dockyard on the Firth of Forth at Rosyth, Fife, Scotland, owned by Babcock Marine, which formerly undertook refitting of Royal Navy surface vessels and submarines. Before its privatisation i ...
was added to the Metropolitan Police's remit in 1916, a role they held until 1926. Concerns over worsening pay and conditions led almost all Met officers to join a strike in 1918 and 1156 officers to join another in August the following year.


1919–1929

Female full police officers first joined the Metropolitan Police in February 1919, although the then Commissioner, Sir
Nevil Macready General (United Kingdom), General Sir Cecil Frederick Nevil Macready, 1st Baronet, (7 May 1862 – 9 January 1946), known affectionately as Make-Ready (close to the correct pronunciation of his name), was a British Army officer. He served in ...
, insisted he did not want any “vinegary spinsters” or “blighted middle-aged fanatics” in its ranks. The female police officers were distinguished from their male counterparts, who had wider authority, by the prefix 'woman' before their rank, such as " Woman Police Constable" and " Woman Police Sergeant". They were headed by
Sofia Stanley Sofia Anne Stanley (28 January 1873 – 24 September 1953) was the first female police officer and the first commander of the Metropolitan Police's Women in law enforcement in the United Kingdom#Entry into the profession, Women Patrols from 1919 ...
, who also designed the first women's police uniform, known as the Stanley uniform. Initial duties of female police officers included patrolling areas frequented by prostitutes, along with care and observation of female and juvenile detainees, deterring prostitution, helping prevent the deceitful practice of fortune telling, and looking after women attempting to commit suicide. Female officers were allowed to go into brothels, nightclubs, and betting houses to observe and gather evidence of untoward behaviour, but at the first sign of crime being committed, they had to call in male colleagues. They were also not allowed to carry handcuffs unless instructed to by a senior officer. 1921 saw the addition of a new Z (Croydon) Division, carved out of parts of W Division, but the following year the post-war budget cutbacks known as the
Geddes Axe The Geddes Axe was the drive for public economy and retrenchment in UK government expenditure recommended in the 1920s by a Committee on National Expenditure chaired by Sir Eric Geddes and with Lord Inchcape, Lord Faringdon, Sir Joseph Maclay a ...
led the Met to begin phasing out its dockyard divisions in 1923 (a process finally completed in 1934) and attempt to abolish its female officers after only four years. Though it lost her her job, Sofia Stanley successfully fought this attempt and instead a cadre of twenty female officers was allowed to continue as a seed-bed for future growth. In the wake of the
Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 Sex is the biological trait that determines whether a sexual reproduction, sexually reproducing organism produces male or female gametes. During sexual reproduction, a male and a female gamete fuse to form a zygote, which develops into an o ...
they were granted the power of arrest for the first time and posted to various areas of the Met, with Louise Pelling attached to Special Branch and
Lilian Wyles Lilian Mary Elizabeth Wyles (31 August 1885 – 13 May 1975) was an English female police officer who was among the first officers to take statements from female and juvenile assault victims, rather than relying on "assistants".Louise A. Jackson: " ...
joining the Criminal Investigation Department as a statement-taker for sexual-offence cases, the CID's first attested female officer. They worked early and late shifts, each of 7.5 hours, but until 1973 only one week of night shifts in contrast to three consecutive weeks of night shifts for men. A policy was introduced in 1927 requiring women to leave the Metropolitan Police if they got married.


1930s

In 1931,
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Marshal of the Royal Air Force (MRAF) is the highest rank in the UK's Royal Air Force (RAF). In peacetime it was granted to RAF officers in the appointment of Chief of the Defence Staff (United Kingdom), Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), and to ...
The 1st Baron Trenchard was appointed as Police Commissioner. Lord Trenchard served as head of the Metropolitan Police until 1935 and during his tenure he instigated several changes. These included limiting membership of the Police Federation, introducing limited terms of employment and the short-lived creation of separate career paths for the lower and higher ranks akin to the military system of officer and non-commissioned career streams. Perhaps Trenchard's most well known achievement during his time as Commissioner was the establishment of the
Hendon Police College Hendon Police College is the principal training centre for London's Metropolitan Police. Founded with the official name of the Metropolitan Police College, the college has officially been known as the Peel Centre since 1974, although its origin ...
which originally was the institution from which Trenchard's junior station
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 ...
s graduated before following a career in the higher ranks. Trenchard gave the special constables their current name of the
Metropolitan Special Constabulary The Metropolitan Special Constabulary (MSC) is the volunteer police force of the Metropolitan Police Service. It is one of three Special Constabularies operating within London, the others being part of the City of London Police and British Tr ...
(MSC) in 1934. For a short period of time after the MSC was formed, Specials did not receive uniforms like that of a full-time policeman. Instead, they were issued with armbands which identified them as Special Constables, along with being issued a truncheon and a whistle. Trenchard also standardised the issue of pistols among divisions with the division size determining the number of firearms (with thirty-two rounds per pistol) issued: ten pistols with 320 rounds of ammunition were issued to each divisional station; six pistols with 192 rounds to each sub-divisional station; three pistols with 96 rounds to each section station. In 1936, just after his term as Commissioner, the authorisation to carry revolvers on outer districts was revoked, and at the same time Canadian Ross rifles were purchased in the prelude to the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. In 1937 female Met officers were for the first time authorised to take fingerprints.


1939–1945

When
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...
entered the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
on 3 September 1939, the strength of the Metropolitan Police stood at 18,428, which was 900
officers An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...
short of full strength. Due to the increased responsibilities of the police during war-time, three reserve groups were mobilised. The first consisted of 2,737 ex-police pensioners who were re-engaged, a second of 5,380 Special Constables serving on a full-time basis for the duration of the war, and the third being 18,868 War Reserve Constables employed on the same basis as the Special Constables. After having remained stable for decades, crime rates in London soared during the war, posing a new challenge to police. The chaotic conditions of the City under
aerial attack An airstrike, air strike, or air raid is an offensive operation carried out by aircraft. Air strikes are delivered from aircraft such as blimps, balloons, fighter aircraft, attack aircraft, bombers, attack helicopters, and drones. The official d ...
were followed by crime, such as looting, and theft of goods and foodstuffs for illicit sales as black market rationed goods. This also fuelled the activities of criminal gangs who continued and expanded their activities after the war. 16 Met detectives were transferred to the Army to form its new
Special Investigation Branch Special Investigation Branch (SIB) was the name given to the detective branches of all three British military police arms: the Royal Navy Police, Royal Military Police and Royal Air Force Police. It was most closely associated with the Royal ...
. As the
Battle of Dunkirk The Battle of Dunkirk () was fought around the French Third Republic, French port of Dunkirk, Dunkirk (Dunkerque) during the Second World War, between the Allies of World War II, Allies and Nazi Germany. As the Allies were losing the Battle ...
raged,
Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's London boroughs, 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original ...
issued a
memorandum A memorandum (: memorandums or memoranda; from the Latin ''memorandum'', "(that) which is to be remembered"), also known as a briefing note, is a Writing, written message that is typically used in a professional setting. Commonly abbreviation, ...
detailing the
police use of firearms The use of firearms by police forces varies widely across the world, in part due to differences in gun use policy, civilian firearm laws, and recording of police activity. Police forces may require that officers use warning shots before aiming on-t ...
in wartime. The memorandum detailed the planned training for all officers in the use of
pistol A pistol is a type of handgun, characterised by a gun barrel, barrel with an integral chamber (firearms), chamber. The word "pistol" derives from the Middle French ''pistolet'' (), meaning a small gun or knife, and first appeared in the Englis ...
s and
revolver A revolver is a repeating handgun with at least one barrel and a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold six cartridges before needing to be reloaded, ...
s, as despite the police being a
non-combatant Non-combatant is a term of art in the law of war and international humanitarian law to refer to civilians who are not taking a direct part in hostilities. People such as combat medics and military chaplains, who are members of the belligerent arm ...
force, while the war was in progress they would be responsible for providing armed protection at premises deemed at risk from enemy
sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, government, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, demoralization (warfare), demoralization, destabilization, divide and rule, division, social disruption, disrupti ...
and would assist the
British Armed Forces The British Armed Forces are the unified military, military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its British Overseas Territories, Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests ...
in the event of an invasion. Owing to these added roles, on 1 June 1940, 3,500 Canadian Ross Rifles and 72,384 rounds of .303 ammunition were received from the military and distributed among
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 ...
. Thames Division were allocated the smallest number of 61 rifles, and "S" Division the largest with 190. Fifty rifles were also issued to the
London Fire Brigade The London Fire Brigade (LFB) is the Fire department, fire and rescue service for London, the capital of the United Kingdom. It was formed by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act 1865 (28 & 29 Vict. c. 90), under the leadership of superintendent ...
and the Port of London Authority Police.


1945–1959

The rise in criminality continued in the post-war period - by 1948 the number of recorded crimes in London had risen tenfold from the 1920s, to more than 126,000. By 1959 they had reached 160,000. Having been waived during the war, the marriage bar on female officers was permanently abolished in 1946 and two years later the Police Federation, the rank-and-file staff association, opened its membership to women. On the night of 2 November 1952,
Derek Bentley Derek William Bentley (30 June 1933 – 28 January 1953) was a British man who was hanged for the murder of a policeman during a burglary. Christopher Craig, then aged 16, a friend and accomplice of Bentley, was accused of the murder. Be ...
and Christopher Craig set out to break into the confectionery manufacturers Barlow & Parker in
Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...
. Bentley and Craig were spotted climbing up a drain pipe to gain access to the roof by a member of the public, who called the police. The first officer to arrive on scene was
Detective Sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage from the Brit ...
Frederick Fairfax; by this time both Bentley and Craig had hidden behind the lift shaft. DS Fairfax gained entry to the roof and apprehended Bentley, but while doing so was shot in the shoulder by Craig. Upon armed uniformed officers arriving, Constable Sidney Miles was shot dead by Craig. After trial, Bentley was sentenced to death and hanged on 28 January 1953, whilst Craig was remanded
at Her Majesty's Pleasure At His Majesty's pleasure (when the reigning monarch is female, at Her Majesty's pleasure), sometimes abbreviated to the King's pleasure (or the Queen's pleasure), is a term of art in public law and in penal law. In public law, it refers to the ...
and released from prison in 1963. DS Fairfax, PC Norman Harrison and PC James McDonald were all awarded the
George Cross The George Cross (GC) is the highest award bestowed by the British government for non-operational Courage, gallantry or gallantry not in the presence of an enemy. In the British honours system, the George Cross, since its introduction in 1940, ...
for their roles in the incident, whilst Constable Robert Jaggs was awarded the
British Empire Medal The British Empire Medal (BEM; formerly British Empire Medal for Meritorious Service) is a British and Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth award for meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Monarchy of the United Ki ...
and Sidney Miles a posthumous Queen's Police Medal for Gallantry. In the aftermath of the shooting, 15% of firearms in service with the Metropolitan Police were found to be defective, leading to
Special Branch Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security and Intelligence (information gathering), intelligence in Policing in the United Kingdom, British, Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, ...
and Royalty Protection Officers being armed with an early version of the Beretta automatic pistol. The 1950s also saw the Metropolitan Police's first women officers to receive George Medals for courage, Sergeant Ethel Bush and Kathleen Parrott, who had been separately attacked by a sex offender they were on a decoy duty in 1955. Since 1951, in common with all members of U.K. police forces, officers can receive the
Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal The Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal is a decoration for Law enforcement in the United Kingdom, police officers of the United Kingdom. First instituted in 1951, the medal is presented for twenty aggregate years of service in the police ...
after 20 (formerly 22) years of duty.


1960–1978

Before the 1970s, police forces often called for assistance from the Metropolitan Police because of their detective experience. The last case of this kind was when the now defunct
Buckinghamshire Constabulary Buckinghamshire Constabulary was the Home Office police force for the county of Buckinghamshire, England, until 1968. Buckinghamshire Constabulary was established 6 February 1857. At establishment it had a strength of 102 officers. In 1868, pr ...
called upon the MPS to help in the investigation of the Great Train Robbery. In 1965 the last of the Met's territorial divisions was formed and named Q (Wembley) in 1965, formed out of part of X Division. In 1966 three male Metropolitan Police officers were murdered on
Braybrook Street Braybrook Street is a residential street in Shepherd's Bush, London. It runs along the west side of Wormwood Scrubs and the Wormwood Scrubs (HM Prison), prison of the same name, and is close to East Acton tube station, East Acton Underground sta ...
by Harry Roberts and two other occupants of a vehicle who had been stopped for questioning. The force enlisted Norwell Roberts (its first
Windrush generation British African-Caribbean people or British Afro-Caribbean people are an ethnic group in the United Kingdom. They are British citizens or residents of recent Caribbean heritage who further trace much of their ancestry to West and Central Africa. ...
black officer) in 1967, followed by its first black female officer Sislin Fay Allen the following year. 1968 saw the abolition of the groupings of divisions known as Districts, ninety-nine years after their formation. The end of the 1960s also saw the Met's old alphabetical Divisions renamed Districts and Sub-Divisions renamed Divisions. London saw many protests during the 1950s and 1960s, turning violent on more than one occasion, with police clashing with violent protesters and making newspaper headlines. The Metropolitan Police realised it needed a unit specifically trained for public order duties and in 1961 formed the
Special Patrol Group The Special Patrol Group (SPG) was a unit of Greater London'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 loca ...
(SPG), whose officers received higher training in public order policing than ordinary officers on the beat. From 1973 until the 1990s the Metropolitan Police also faced the London facet of the Provisional IRA bombing campaign, involving a large number of bombings. This also included the
Balcombe Street Siege The Balcombe Street siege was an incident involving members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and London's Metropolitan Police lasting from 6 to 12 December 1975. The siege ended with the surrender of the four IRA members and the ...
from 6 to 12 December 1975, in which Provisional IRA members took a couple hostage in their home, while on the run from police. On 1 February 1971, Karpal Kaur Sandhu, born in
Zanzibar Zanzibar is a Tanzanian archipelago off the coast of East Africa. It is located in the Indian Ocean, and consists of many small Island, islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar) and Pemba Island. ...
but of Indian heritage, joined the Metropolitan Police and thus became the Metropolitan Police's (and Britain's) first female Asian police officer. This was before India itself had female police officers (the first female police officer in India was
Kiran Bedi Kiran Bedi (born 9 June 1949) is a former tennis player who became the first woman in India to join the officer ranks of the Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1972 and was the 24th Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry from 28 May 2016 to 16 Februa ...
in 1972). In 1973, the separate Women's Department was fully integrated into the Metropolitan Police. Female police officers did not get equal pay with male police officers until 1974. Twelve officers in the Obscene Publications Branch were imprisoned for corruption in connection with bribes paid by James Humphreys (pornographer). In the Spaghetti House siege on 18 September 1975 alleged members of the
Black Liberation Army The Black Liberation Army (BLA) was an underground Marxist–Leninist, black-nationalist militant organization that operated in the United States from 1970 to 1981. Composed of former Black Panthers (BPP) and Republic of New Afrika (RNA) mem ...
attempted to commit an armed robbery at the Spaghetti House restaurant to gain publicity for their cause. However, the robbery was discovered by the Metropolitan Police, and the would-be robbers initiated a siege by taking hostages. In 1976 the first Woman Chief Superintendent was appointed to take charge of a subdivision.Friends of the Metropolitan Police Historical Collection – FAQ: 1946 – 2007
In 1977 Dee O’Donoghue became the first female traffic officer. The 1970s also saw frequent allegations of
institutional racism Institutional racism, also known as systemic racism, is a form of institutional discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race or ethnic group and can include policies and practices that exist throughout a whole society or organizati ...
against the Metropolitan Police, such as the case of the
Mangrove Nine The Mangrove Nine were a group of British Black activists tried for inciting a riot at a 1970 protest against the police targeting of The Mangrove, a Caribbean restaurant in Notting Hill, West London. Their trial lasted 55 days and involved ...
in 1970 and the
Notting Hill Carnival The Notting Hill Carnival is an annual Caribbean Carnival event that has taken place in London since 1966
disturbances on 30 August 1976, triggered by Metropolitan Police officers attempting to arrest an alleged pickpocket at the Carnival and leading to over 100 officers admitted to hospital. The late 1970s also saw
Operation Countryman Operation Countryman was an investigation into police corruption in London in the late 1970s. The operation was conducted between 1978 and 1982 at a total cost of £3 million and led to eight police officers being prosecuted, although none were c ...
investigate allegations of endemic corruption in the 1960s and 1970s. It concluded that there had been corruption at many levels. Only eight prosecutions were brought but several hundred officers retired or resigned as a result.


1979–1985

Teacher Blair Peach was knocked unconscious in April 1979 during a demonstration in Southall by the Anti-Nazi League against a National Front election meeting taking place in the town hall, dying the next day in hospital. Police brutality was never proven to be a contributory factor in his death, but it was claimed that he had fallen to a blow from a rubberised police radio belonging to the Met's Special Patrol Group, one of many accusations of brutality which ultimately led to its disbandment and replacement by the
Territorial Support Group The Territorial Support Group (TSG) is a Met Operations unit of London's Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) which focuses on public order policing and other specialist areas. In 2012 it consisted of 793 officers and 29 support staff. The TSG ...
in 1986. In 2010, a police report was disclosed that stated that it was likely a Metropolitan Police officer "struck the fatal blow" and attributed "grave suspicion" to one unnamed officer, who it says may also have been involved in a cover-up along with two colleagues. 1979 also saw Nicola Grey became the Met's first female dog handler. Prior to this, women were prohibited from being dog handlers since rules stated that an officer should have a wife who could look after a puppy while the officer went to work. The Met was heavily involved in negotiations during the 1980
Iranian Embassy siege The Iranian Embassy siege took place from 30 April to 5 May 1980, after a group of six armed men stormed the Embassy of Iran, London, Iranian embassy on Prince's Gate in South Kensington, London. The gunmen, Iranian Arabs campaigning for th ...
, though these were terminated after six days and the
British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
's
Special Air Service The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. It was founded as a regiment in 1941 by David Stirling, and in 1950 it was reconstituted as a corps. The unit specialises in a number of roles including counter-terr ...
(SAS) stormed the building. A 1985 reorganisation established eight Areas made up of a total of 67 Divisions and Sub-Divisions, reduced to 62 spread over five Areas in 1995. During the early 1980s, the Met began Operation Swamp which was implemented to cut street crime by the use of the
sus law In England and Wales, the sus law (from "suspected person") was a stop and search law that permitted a police officer to stop, search and potentially arrest people on suspicion of them being in breach of section 4 of the Vagrancy Act 1824. Acc ...
which legally allowed officers to stop people on the suspicion of wrongdoing. Tensions rose within the black community after a black youth was stabbed, leading to severe rioting on 11 April 1981. Later that year a report issued by
Lord Scarman Leslie George Scarman, Baron Scarman, (29 July 1911 – 8 December 2004) was an English judge and barrister who served as a Law Lord until his retirement in 1986. He was described as an "outstanding judicial figure, entrusted with the most hi ...
stated that the Metropolitan Police were having problems regarding
racial discrimination Racial discrimination is any discrimination against any individual on the basis of their Race (human categorization), race, ancestry, ethnicity, ethnic or national origin, and/or Human skin color, skin color and Hair, hair texture. Individuals ...
. In 1983, Metropolitan officers arrested serial killer
Dennis Nilsen Dennis Andrew Nilsen (23 November 1945 – 12 May 2018) was a Scottish serial killer and Necrophilia, necrophile who murdered at least twelve young men and boys between 1978 and 1983. Convicted at the Old Bailey of six counts of murder and two ...
. The following year WPC
Yvonne Fletcher The murder of Yvonne Fletcher, a Metropolitan Police officer, occurred on 17 April 1984, when she was fatally wounded by a shot fired from the Libyan embassy on St James's Square, London, by an unknown gunman. Fletcher had been deployed to m ...
was murdered outside the Libyan Embassy. Rioting erupted again in Brixton on 28 September 1985, sparked by the shooting of Dorothy Groce by police seeking her son Michael Groce, who was believed to be hiding in his mother's home, in relation to a suspected firearms offence. He was not there at the time, and Groce was part-paralysed by the bullet. A week later, while tensions among the black community were still high, riots broke out at the Broadwater Farm estate in Tottenham, north London, after the mother of a black man whose house was being searched died of a heart attack during the operation. During the riot, PC
Keith Blakelock Keith Henry Blakelock King's Gallantry Medal, QGM, a London Metropolitan Police constable, was murdered on 6 October 1985 during the Broadwater Farm riot in Tottenham, north London. The riot broke out after Cynthia Jarrett died of heart failur ...
was murdered. Blakelock's murder remains unsolved.


1986–1992

Metropolitan Police officers worked with the British Transport Police and neighbouring forces to arrest and convict
John Duffy and David Mulcahy John Francis Duffy (born 1958) and David Mulcahy (born 1959) are two British serial rapists and serial killers who together attacked numerous women and children at railway stations in southern England during the 1980s. Their crimes are often ...
, for 18 rapes of women and young girls at or near railway stations in London and
South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, regions of England that are in the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, top level category for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the nine counties of england, ...
and murdering three of their victims between 1982 and 1986. In 1986 Met officers also secured the conviction of
Kenneth Erskine Kenneth Erskine (born 1 July 1963) is a British serial killer who became known as The Stockwell Strangler. He committed the murders of 7–11 senior citizens in London between April and July 1986. Early life Erskine was born in Hammersmith on 1 ...
for a series of attacks in Stockwell on elderly men and women, breaking into their homes and strangling them to death. In March 1987 private investigator
Daniel Morgan Daniel Morgan (c. 1736 – July 6, 1802) was an American pioneer, soldier, and politician from Virginia. One of the most respected battlefield tacticians of the American Revolutionary War of 1775–1783, he later commanded troops during the sup ...
was murdered in
Sydenham Sydenham may refer to: Places Australia * Sydenham, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Sydenham railway station, Sydney * Sydenham, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne ** Sydenham railway line, the name of the Sunbury railway line, Melbourne un ...
(south east London), in March 1987. He was said to have been close to exposing police corruption, or involved with Maltese drug dealers. Morgan's death has been the subject of several failed police inquiries, and in 2011 it was at the centre of allegations concerning the suspect conduct of journalists with the British tabloid
News of the World The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national "Tabloid journalism#Red tops, red top" Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling ...
. This unsolved murder has been described as a reminder of the culture of corruption and unaccountability within the Metropolitan Police Service. An independent enquiry in 2021 concluded that the Metropolitan Police were "institutionally corrupt" in its handling of the investigation into the murder of Daniel Morgan and that the force had placed protecting its reputation above the investigation. Metropolitan Police officers assisted the British Transport Police during the 1987
King's Cross fire The King's Cross fire occurred in 1987 at King's Cross St Pancras tube station in London, England, causing 31 fatalities. It began under a wooden escalator before spreading into the ticket hall in a flashover. The fire began at approximately ...
and the 1988
Clapham Junction rail crash The Clapham Junction rail crash occurred on the morning of 12 December 1988, when a crowded British Rail passenger train crashed into the rear of another train that had stopped at a signal just south of Clapham Junction railway station in London ...
. The official title was changed from "Metropolitan Police" to "Metropolitan Police Service" as part of the "PLUS Programme" in 1989, under the then Commissioner Sir Peter Imbert, following the presentation of a report entitled "A Service for Change: Report on the Corporate Identity of the Metropolitan Police" to the service's Policy Committee by
Wolff Olins Wolff Olins is a global brand consultancy agency that specialises in corporate identity. It was founded in 1965 in London, where its main office is still based, as well as having offices in New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles. It emplo ...
corporate identity consultants in August 1988. The
Metropolitan Police Marine Policing Unit The Marine Policing Unit (MPU) is the waterborne policing unit of London's Metropolitan Police Service, forming part of the Met Taskforce (MO7) within Met Operations. Its 22 vessels are responsible for waterborne policing of the River Thames in ...
assisted in the aftermath of the 1989
Marchioness disaster The ''Marchioness'' disaster was a collision between two vessels on the River Thames in London in the early hours of 20 August 1989, which resulted in the deaths of 51 people. The pleasure boat ''Marchioness'' sank after being hit twice by the ...
, whilst in 1990 the Service was faced with the Poll tax riots. There was a great deal of media coverage of the 1992 killing of Rachel Nickell, after which a police
sting operation In law enforcement, a sting operation is a deceptive operation designed to catch a person attempting to commit a crime. A typical sting will have an undercover law enforcement officer, detective, or co-operative member of the public play a rol ...
against innocent
prime suspect ''Prime Suspect'' is a British police procedural television series devised by Lynda La Plante. Broadcast on ITV between 1991 and 2006, it stars Helen Mirren as Jane Tennison, one of the first female Detective Chief Inspectors in Greater Lo ...
Colin Stagg was criticised as
entrapment Entrapment is a practice in which a law enforcement agent or an agent of the state induces a person to commit a crime that the person would have otherwise been unlikely or unwilling to commit.''Sloane'' (1990) 49 A Crim R 270. See also agent prov ...
.
Robert Napper Robert Clive Napper (born 25 February 1966) is an English serial killer and rapist. He has been convicted of two murders, one manslaughter, two rapes and two attempted rapes. He was sentenced to indefinite detention at Broadmoor Hospital on 18 ...
, who committed a double murder in 1993, was convicted of the
manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...
of Nickell in 2008.


1993–1999

From 1993, a series of operations failed to convict the murderers of Stephen Lawrence, despite substantial evidence. The resulting MacPherson inquiry found that the Met was "institutionally racist". Tensions with the Black community also led to a third Brixton riot in 1995, arising from a large protest outside Brixton police station over the death of a local man in police custody - three police officers were injured and a two-mile exclusion zone was set up around Brixton. Later reports showed that the male in custody died of heart failure, said to be brought on because of difficulties restraining him. 1999 was a full year for the service, including the murder of
Jill Dando Jill Wendy Dando (9 November 1961 – 26 April 1999) was an English journalist, television presenter and newsreader. She spent most of her career at the BBC and was the corporation's Personality of the Year in 1997. At the time of her death, he ...
, the
1999 London nail bombings The 1999 London nail bombings were a series of bomb explosions in London, England. Over three successive weekends between 17 and 30 April 1999, homemade nail bombs were detonated in Brixton in South London; at Brick Lane, Spitalfields, in the Ea ...
, the fatal shooting of Harry Stanley 100 yards from his home by Metropolitan police officers in contentious circumstances, the dropping of the prefix "Woman" from female officers' ranks and the
Macpherson Report Stephen Adrian Lawrence (13September 1974 – 22April 1993) was an 18-year-old black British citizen from Plumstead, southeast London, who was murdered in a racially motivated attack while waiting for a bus on Well Hall Road, Eltham, on the ...
, which stated that
institutional racism Institutional racism, also known as systemic racism, is a form of institutional discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race or ethnic group and can include policies and practices that exist throughout a whole society or organizati ...
existed in the service. In the two decades before 2010, over 50 serving MPS officers died in service, with eight being murdered or fatally injured by an assailant. 1999 was also the year in which the
Metropolitan Police District The Metropolitan Police District (MPD) is the police area which is policed by the Metropolitan Police Service in London. It currently consists of the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, which excludes the City of ...
was finally made coterminous with Greater London and the old system of areas and divisions gave way to a system of one Borough Operational Command Unit (BOCU) for each of the thirty-two post-1965
London boroughs The London boroughs are the current 32 local authority districts that together with the City of London make up the administrative area of Greater London, England; each is governed by a London borough council. The present London boroughs wer ...
, each commanded by a
Chief Superintendent Chief superintendent is a senior rank in police forces, especially in those organised on the United Kingdom, British model. Rank insignia of chief superintendent File:Sa-police-chief-superintendent.png, South Australia Police File:RCMP Chief S ...
(or a
Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...
for the City of Westminster), an arrangement which lasted until 2018.


21st century


2000–2009

The service continued to be overseen directly by the Home Secretary until 2000, when the newly created
Greater London Authority The Greater London Authority (GLA), colloquially known by the Metonymy, metonym City Hall, is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved Regions of England, regional governance body of Greater London, England. It consists of two political ...
was given responsibility to oversee the force, through the
Metropolitan Police Authority The Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) (2000–2012) was the local police authority responsible for scrutinising and supporting the work of the Metropolitan Police Service, the police force for Greater London (excluding the City of London Police ...
. The MPA is made up of members appointed by the
Mayor of London The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. The current ...
and the
London Assembly The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds supermajority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject t ...
, and several independent members. Parts of the Met district outside Greater London, such as
Ewell Ewell ( , ) is a town in Surrey, England, south of Centre of London, central London and northeast of Epsom. At the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 Census, it had a population of 34,872. The majority (73%) was in the NRS social grade, ABC1 ...
,
Loughton Loughton () is a suburban town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex. The town borders Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell, Chingford, and Buckhurst Hill, and lies north-east of Charing Cross. For statistical purposes ...
and
Waltham Cross Waltham Cross is a town in the Borough of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, England, located north of central London. In the south-eastern corner of Hertfordshire, it borders Cheshunt to the north, Waltham Abbey to the east, and Enfield to the sout ...
. were removed and added to the forces of surrounding counties. The Metropolitan Police Commissioner is still appointed by the Home Secretary. Thames Division was renamed the Marine Support Unit in 2001 and then the Marine Policing Unit in 2008. In an attempt to control crowds during the 2001 May Day protest, the service employed the tactic of "kettling", and were criticised for detaining bystanders for long periods of time. That year, the dismembered body of a young boy believed to have been between the ages of four and seven was found floating in the River Thames, and named by police as ''Adam'' in the absence of a confirmed identity. During the investigation, a police commander and a detective chief inspector met with
Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...
. The case was never solved. An internal report in 2002 arising from
Operation Tiberius Operation Tiberius was a 2002 internal London Metropolitan Police investigation, leaked to ''The Independent'' in 2014. It found that criminal organisations had used Freemasonry connections to "recruit corrupt officers". The Metropolitan Police a ...
found that "Organised criminals were able to infiltrate Scotland Yard at will by bribing corrupt officers". Demonstrators protesting against the
Hunting Act 2004 The Hunting Act 2004 (c. 37) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which bans the hunting of most wild mammals (notably foxes, deer, hares and mink) with dogs in England and Wales, subject to some strictly limited exemptions; the ...
outside the
Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is located in London, England. It is commonly called the Houses of Parliament after the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two legislative ch ...
in 2004 were involved in violent confrontations with Metropolitan Police officers. The Metropolitan Police worked to a major incident plan to provide co-ordination, control and forensic and investigative resources after the 7 July 2005 bombings in 2005, though in the aftermath of multiple attempted attacks two weeks later officers mistook
Jean Charles de Menezes Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Jean ...
for a suspected terrorist as he boarded a train and shot him dead in a deployment of
Operation Kratos Operation Kratos was a set of tactics developed by London's Metropolitan Police Service for dealing with suspected suicide bombers, most notably firing shots to the head without warning. The tactics were developed shortly after the 11 September ...
. In 2006, officers from the Met and other forces foiled a Transatlantic aircraft bomb plot, whilst Operation Trident officers also made the Met's largest ever seizure of firearms after a series of raids in Dartford, Kent named Operation Mokpo. Met bomb disposal officers defused a two car bombs in central London in 2007, with the perpetrators subsequently investigated and convicted. A 2007 cold case review of Stephen Lawrence's murder found a tiny speck of Lawrence's blood on a jacket belonging to Dobson and one of Lawrence's hairs on trousers belonging to Norris, leading to the conviction of Gary Dobson and David Norris on 3 January 2012. The pair were sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum term of 15 years 2 months for Dobson and 14 years 3 months for Norris. Following high-profile controversies involving high-ranking black officers, including allegations of racism made by Tarique Ghaffur – the highest ranking Asian officer in the Met – against commissioner
Ian Blair Ian Warwick Blair, Baron Blair of Boughton, (born 19 March 1953) is a British retired police officer who held the position of Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis from 2005 to 2008. He joined the Metropolitan Police in 1974 under a gra ...
, the National Black Police Association boycotted the Met in 2008 for racial discrimination. The Met once again used the "kettling" technique to contain large numbers of demonstrators during the
2009 G20 London summit protests 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Hindu–Arabic digit Circa 300 BC, as part of the Brahmi numerals, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bo ...
. A bystander named Ian Tomlinson died from internal bleeding after he was hit with a baton and pushed to the ground by an officer of the Territorial Support Group. The jury at the inquest into Tomlinson's death returned a verdict of unlawful killing and the officer who pushed Tomlinson was later acquitted of manslaughter. Following a separate incident, a sergeant in the Territorial Support Group was suspended after being filmed striking a woman's face with his hand and her leg with a baton, but he was later cleared of any wrongdoing.


2010–2014

The Met oversaw preparations for Pope Benedict XVI's 2010 visit, the first state visit to the UK by a pope. 201 people were arrested during the 2011 London anti-cuts protest, and 66 were injured, including 31 police officers, as up to 500,000 people demonstrated in central London against planned public spending cuts. It was described as the largest protest in the United Kingdom since the
15 February 2003 anti-war protests On 15 February 2003, a coordinated day of protests was held across the world in which people in more than 600 cities expressed opposition to the imminent Iraq War. It was part of a series of protests and political events that had begun in 2002 a ...
and the largest union-organised rally in London since the Second World War. The Met's Operation Minstead concluded after 12 years on 24 March 2011 with the conviction of the Night Stalker. Delroy Grant raped and assaulted elderly victims over a period of 17 years from 1992 to 2009 across south London, Kent and Surrey. He was found guilty of 29 charges, including burglaries, rapes and sexual assaults, but officers linked him to over 200 different offences during the 1990s and 2000s. Grant was given four life sentences and ordered to serve a minimum of 27 years in prison. The 2006–2011
News International phone hacking scandal Beginning in the 1990s, and going as far until its shutdown in 2011, employees of the now-defunct newspaper ''News of the World'' engaged in phone hacking, police bribery, and exercising improper influence in the pursuit of stories. Investi ...
partly revolved around allegations that some Met officers accepted payment from journalists in exchange for information. Around 5,000 Metropolitan Police officers were deployed to police the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton at Westminster Abbey on 29 April 2011. In advance of the event, assistant commissioner Lynne Owens said: "People who want to come to London to peacefully protest can do that but they must remember that it is a day of national celebration". Approximately one hundred people were pre-emptively arrested in advance of the wedding and were detained without charge for the duration of the wedding, with the apparent aim of suppressing protest. Other protestors were arrested on the day of the wedding; some were detained at railway stations on arrival. The Metropolitan Police said that one million people were present in London to watch the wedding procession. On 4 August the same year, Mark Duggan was shot by Metropolitan Police Service officers, triggering a series of public disturbances, initially in the
Tottenham Tottenham (, , , ) is a district in north London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, ...
but spreading into many other areas of London and including instances of arson and
looting Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...
. Dozens of officers were injured and the Met launched Operation Withern to investigate the disturbances. Also in 2011 the Home Office asked the Met to support the Portuguese Police with a review and subsequent investigation into the
disappearance of Madeleine McCann Madeleine Beth McCann (born 12 May 2003) is a British missing person, who at the age of 3 disappeared from her bed in a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Lagos, Portugal, Lagos, Portugal, on the evening of 3 May 2007. ''The Daily Telegraph'' ...
in Portugal four years earlier, which became
Operation Grange Madeleine Beth McCann (born 12 May 2003) is a British missing person, who at the age of 3 disappeared from her bed in a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Lagos, Portugal, on the evening of 3 May 2007. ''The Daily Telegraph'' described her di ...
. Home office provide special funding for the operation which up until September 2017 cost £11.1 million. The
2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
were the largest ever police deployment in the UK, including up to 10,500 Met officers deployed during the busiest days. The Met also established Operation Yewtree that year to investigate allegations against Jimmy Savile; in 2013 their findings on Savile were published in a joint report with
National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is a British child protection charity founded as the Liverpool Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (LSPCC) by Thomas Agnew on 19 April 1883. The NSPCC lobbies t ...
called ''
Giving Victims a Voice Giving may refer to: * Gift, the transfer of something without the expectation of receiving something in return * Generosity, the habit of giving freely without expecting anything in return * Charity (practice), the giving of help to those in need ...
''. Yewtree expanded to investigate allegations of sexual abuse unrelated to Savile and led to the convictions of
Max Clifford Maxwell Frank Clifford (6 April 1943 – 10 December 2017) was an English publicist and convicted sex offender who was particularly associated with promoting " kiss and tell" stories in tabloid newspapers. In December 2012, as part of Operat ...
and
Rolf Harris Rolf Harris (30 March 1930 – 10 May 2023) was an Australian musician, television personality, painter, and actor. He used a variety of instruments in his performances, notably the didgeridoo and the Stylophone, and is credited with the inventi ...
, amongst others. Other celebrities were arrested and repeatedly bailed for months before being told they would not be charged. As a result, then-Home Secretary
Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead (; ; born 1 October 1956), is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served as Home Secretar ...
proposed that bail time be limited to 28 days. The 28-day limit came into effect in April 2017. In June 2013, the Met were exposed for sending an undercover officer to smear the friends and family of Stephen Lawrence. The following year it was revealed more than 4,600 children had been
strip search A strip search is a practice of searching a person for weapons or other contraband suspected of being hidden on their body or inside their clothing, and not found by performing a frisk search, but by requiring the person to remove some or al ...
ed by the Metropolitan Police in the preceding five years, with the youngest being ten years old. This was out of a total of 134,000 strip-searched. A charity described the number of younger children searched in this way as being "disturbing". In October 2013 the Met, English Transport Police, City of London Police, and Transport for London jointly launched
Project Guardian Project Guardian is a joint initiative between British Transport Police (BTP), the Metropolitan Police Service ("the Met"), the City of London Police, and Transport for London (TfL), which aims to combat and increase reporting of sexual harassme ...
to reduce sexual harassment on public transport and increase reporting of sexual offences. The following month officers from the Met's human trafficking unit arrested two suspects in
Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, which today also gives its name to the (much larger) London Borough of Lambeth. Lambeth itself was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey. It is situated 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Charin ...
who were alleged to have enslaved three women in a house for over 30 years. In September 2014 it launched the largest investigation since the 2005 bombings and attempted bombings after the disappearance of Alice Gross. That year it also launched
Operation Midland Operation Midland was a criminal investigation which the London Metropolitan Police carried out between November 2014 and March 2016 in response to false allegations of historic child abuse made by Carl Beech. The operation focused on investig ...
after Carl Beech, then known publicly under the pseudonym "Nick", alleged that he had been the victim of a VIP paedophile ring and that he had witnessed them murder three boys decades earlier. Detective Superintendent Kenny McDonald issued a statement in which he said that they believed Beech's allegations were "credible and true" but the probe was closed after 16 months when no evidence was found to corroborate the claims. A report by
Richard Henriques Sir Richard Henry Quixano Henriques (born 27 October 1943) is a British retired lawyer and judge who was a Justice of the High Court of England and Wales. Early life and education Henriques was born in south Fylde, educated at Southdene, in Sou ...
detailed numerous failings by the Met and found that those accused were victims of false allegations, prompting then-Commissioner
Bernard Hogan-Howe Bernard Hogan-Howe, Baron Hogan-Howe, (born 25 October 1957) is an English former police officer and was the head of London's Metropolitan Police as Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis from 2011 until 2017. Born in Sheffield, Hogan-How ...
to apologise to them. Hogan-Howe called for the Met to change their approach to such allegations and no longer automatically believe complainants. Beech was convicted of charges related to lying to the police in July 2019 and was sentenced to 18 years in jail.


2015–2019

In 2015, former Metropolitan Police Special Branch officer Peter Francis revealed that the MPS has spied on several former and serving Labour Party (UK), Labour MPs including Harriet Harman, Peter Hain, Jack Straw, Diane Abbott, Jeremy Corbyn, Bernie Grant, Ken Livingstone, Tony Benn, Joan Ruddock and Dennis Skinner. In response, Peter Hain stated: "That the special branch had a file on me dating back 40 years ago to anti-apartheid and anti-Nazi League activist days is hardly revelatory. That these files were still active for at least 10 years while I was an MP certainly is and raises fundamental questions about parliamentary sovereignty." In 2017, the Metropolitan Police stated that they would not investigate low level crimes and crimes where finding a suspect was unlikely, though serious crimes like violent offences would still be investigated. The Metropolitan Police justified this due to recent budget cuts under the United Kingdom government austerity programme, but it was criticised in the press as giving the "green light" to thieves. 2017 also saw Cressida Dick became the first female Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, a position often described in the media as the most senior police officer in the country, and New Scotland Yard (building), New Scotland Yard reopen in its new site at the Curtis Green Building. 2017 also found the Met involved in countering and investigating terror attacks in 2017 Westminster attack, Westminster (in which PC Keith Palmer (police officer), Keith Palmer was killed) and on 2017 London Bridge attack, London Bridge and Borough Market, as well as its officers using riot shields to protect firefighters from falling debris during the Grenfell Tower fire. The devastating fire led to an extensive forensic and criminal investigation involving around 250 Met officers. Commander Stuart Cundy said "I would like to reassure everybody that we will be looking at all criminal offences that might have been committed by any individual or any organisation." In 2018, its Counter Terrorism Command led the investigation into a chemical agent poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, incident in Salisbury, Wiltshire, in which two couples were hospitalised over the course of three months.


2020–present

On 3 March 2021, Sarah Everard disappeared in South London. On 10 March, she was found dead in Kent. On 12 March, Met PC Wayne Couzens was charged with kidnapping and murdering her. On 13 March, he was remanded in custody and - pleading guilty - was sentenced on 30 September the same year. The Met were criticised for their reaction to a vigil-turned-protest for Everard which were held on 13 and 14 March.Sarah Everard: Priti Patel calls for investigation of vigil policing
/ref> The vigils - in which hundreds of people gathered in close proximity - were illegal due to laws implemented to reduce the spread of COVID-19. The actions of the police were supported by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS), who had been asked to investigate the actions of the police. Their review, published on 30 March, found that the police had "reacted appropriately and were not heavy handed" and were "justified" in their stance with respect to the Covid regulations, saying that the risks of transmission were "too great to ignore". The HMICFRS report also said "Condemnation of the Met’s actions within mere hours of the vigil – including from people in positions of responsibility – was unwarranted, showed a lack of respect for public servants facing a complex situation, and undermined public confidence in policing based on very limited evidence." They also said that the police response was a "public relations disaster" with a "materially adverse effect on public confidence in policing"; the review added, "We acknowledge that a more conciliatory response might have served the force's interests better." HMICFRS also concluded that the Met had incorrectly interpreted coronavirus-related restrictions due to legal confusion, and that not all demonstrations during a Tier 4 lockdown are unlawful. A whistleblower alleged that the reviewers had demonstrated a pro-police and anti-protestor bias while compiling the report, with the reviewing panel composed almost entirely of police officers. Four members of Reclaim These Streets took legal action against the Metropolitan Police, claiming that their human rights to freedom of speech and assembly had been breached in connection with their attempt to organise the vigil. The case was heard in January 2022, and a judgment delivered on 11 March 2022 said that the Met's decisions in the run-up to the event were "not in accordance with the law". The Met has said it will appeal against the judgment. In March 2021, PC Ben Hannam was found guilty of belonging to neo-Nazi group National Action (UK), National Action. In June 2021, an independent panel inquiring into the 1987 murder of Daniel Morgan released their report. The report branded the Metropolitan Police "institutionally corrupt" and personally censured its current Commissioner, Cressida Dick, for obstruction of the investigation, leading to calls for her resignation. In March 2022, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services issued a report which was critical of the Met in respect of the measures it takes to tackle corruption. The report included the comment: "Its [the Met’s] apparent tolerance of the shortcomings we describe in this report suggests a degree of indifference to the risk of corruption."


See also

* Bow Street Museum of Crime and Justice * Crime Museum * Metropolitan Police Museum * History of criminal justice#Modern police, History of criminal justice § Modern police * History of law enforcement in the United Kingdom * List of medals awarded to Metropolitan Police officers


Notes


References


Further reading

*Douglas G. Browne, ''The Rise of Scotland Yard: A History of the Metropolitan Police'' (London: George G. Harrap & Co., 1956). *Clive Emsley, ''The English Police: A Political and Social History'' (London: Routledge, 1996). *Gary Mason, ''The Official History of the Metropolitan Police'' (London: Carlton Books Ltd, 2004). *Laurence Thompson (journalist), Laurence Thompson, ''The Story of Scotland Yard'' (New York: Random House, 1954). *Basil Thomson, ''The Story of Scotland Yard'' (London: Grayson & Grayson, 1935). {{DEFAULTSORT:History Of The Metropolitan Police Service History of the Metropolitan Police, History of law enforcement in the United Kingdom, Metropolitan Legal history of England History of local government in London History of organisations based in England, Metropolitan Police Service