Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Monday, July 18, 2011

Scotland Yard

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about Scotland Yard in his Sherlock Holmes stories. Monty Python regularly included inspectors from "the Yard" in its sketches. Numerous crime novels and movies featured Scotland Yard detectives. To many Americans, Scotland Yard is synonymous with the British police.

Scotland Yard was the street on which the public entrance of the Metropolitan Police of London originally stood. "The Met" polices most of London (not "the City" which is the core of Medieval London and now the business and banking center; it has its own police force).

Scotland Yard is in the news again because of its involvement (or lack of involvement) in the phone hacking scandal surrounding The News of the World. And the head of "the Met" resigned. This is a chance to review law enforcement in the UK.

Stain From Tabloids Rubs Off on a Cozy Scotland Yard

[F]ormer Scotland Yard senior officers acknowledged in interviews, the police have been lazy, incompetent and too cozy with the people they should have regarded as suspects. At worst, they said, some officers might be guilty of crimes themselves.

“It’s embarrassing, and it’s tragic,” said a retired Scotland Yard veteran. “This has badly damaged the reputation of a really good investigative organization. And there is a major crisis now in the leadership of the Yard.”…

About the Metropolitan Police Service

The Metropolitan Police Service is famed around the world and has a unique place in the history of policing. It is by far the largest of the police services that operate in greater London (the others include the City of London Police and the British Transport Police). The Royal Parks Constabulary have now become part of the Metropolitan Police Service.

Founded by Sir Robert Peel in 1829, the original establishment of 1,000 officers policed a seven-mile radius from Charing Cross and a population of less than 2 million.

Today, the Metropolitan Police Service employs more than 32,500 officers together with about 14,200 police staff, 230 traffic wardens and 4,300 Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs). The MPS is also being supported by more than 3,600 volunteer police officers in the Metropolitan Special Constabulary (MSC) and its Employer Supported Policing (ESP) programme. The Metropolitan Police Services covers an area of 620 square miles and a population of 7.2 million.

Links to individual UK police force websites

Law enforcement in the United Kingdom

Law enforcement in the United Kingdom is organised separately in each of the legal systems of the United Kingdom: England & Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland…

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Labels: regime, UK