Flying Squad - Formation and History

Formation and History

The squad was originally formed on an experimental basis by Detective Chief Inspector Wensley. In October, 1919, he summoned twelve detectives to Scotland Yard to form the squad. The group was initially named the "Mobile Patrol Experiment", and its original orders were to perform surveillance and gather intelligence on known robbers and pickpockets, using a horse-drawn carriage with covert holes cut into the canvas.

In 1920, it was officially reorganised under the authority of then Commissioner Sir Nevil Macready. Headed by Detective Inspector Walter Hambrook, the squad contained twelve detective officers, including Irish-born Jeremiah Lynch (1888-1953), who had earned a fearsome reputation for tracking wartime German spies and for building up the case against confidence trickster Horatio Bottomley. The Mobile Patrol Experiment was given authorisation to carry out duties anywhere in the Metropolitan Police District, meaning that they did not have to observe Divisions, giving rise to the name of the "Flying Squad" because the unit operation all across London without adhering to borough policing boundaries.

Throughout the 1920s, the squad was standardised and expanded, and the establishment was expanded to forty officers, under the command of a Detective Superintendent. In 1948, the squad was given the designation of "C.O.(C.8)" for "Commissioner's Office Crime 8" and was augmented. By 1956 it made 1000 arrests per year for the first time.

From 1978 to 1981 the name was changed to the Central Robbery Squad, but still known as the Flying Squad, they are often referred to by the nicknames the "Heavy Mob" or "the Sweeney", which is a shortened version of the rhyming slang, Sweeney Todd.

This was the era in which the squad's close ties with the criminal fraternity, which had always been a necessary part of its strategy, were being exposed to public criticism. A number of scandals involving bribery and corruption were revealed, and on 7 July 1977, the squad's commander, Detective Chief Superintendent Kenneth Drury, was convicted on five counts of corruption and jailed for eight years. Twelve other officers were also convicted and many more resigned. These and other scandals led to a massive internal investigation by the Dorset Constabulary into the Metropolitan Police Service and the City of London Police, codenamed Operation Countryman.