The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement in Greater London, excluding the "square mile" of the City of London which is the responsibility of the City of London Police. The MPS also has significant national responsibilities such as co-ordinating and leading on counter-terrorism matters and protection of the British Royal Family and senior figures of Her Majesty's Government.
As of October 2011, the MPS employed 48,661 full-time personnel. This included 31,478 sworn police officers, 13,350 non-police staff, and 3,831 non-sworn police community support officers. This number excludes the 5,479 Special Constables, who work part-time (a minimum of 16 hours a month) although have the same powers as regular officers. This makes the Metropolitan Police the largest police force in the United Kingdom by a significant margin, and one of the biggest in the world.
The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, commonly known simply as the Commissioner, is the overall operational leader of the force, responsible and accountable to the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime. The post of Commissioner was first held jointly by Sir Charles Rowan and Sir Richard Mayne. The post is currently occupied by Bernard Hogan-Howe. The Commissioner's sub-ordinate, the Deputy Commissioner, is currently Craig Mackey.
A number of informal names and abbreviations exists for the Metropolitan Police Service, the most common being the Met. In colloquial London (or Cockney slang), it is referred to as the Old Bill. In statutes it is referred to in the lower case as the "metropolitan police force" or the "metropolitan police", without the appendage "service". The MPS is also referred to by the metonym Scotland Yard after the location of its original headquarters in a road called Great Scotland Yard in Whitehall. The current headquarters of the MPS is New Scotland Yard, in Victoria.
Read more about Metropolitan Police Service: History, Police Area and Other Forces, Organisation and Structure, Ranks, Resources, Stations, Notable Incidents and Investigations, Officers Killed in The Line of Duty
Famous quotes containing the words metropolitan, police and/or service:
“In metropolitan cases, the love of the most single-eyed lover, almost invariably, is nothing more than the ultimate settling of innumerable wandering glances upon some one specific object.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“The State has but one face for me: that of the police. To my eyes, all of the State’s ministries have this single face, and I cannot imagine the ministry of culture other than as the police of culture, with its prefect and commissioners.”
—Jean Dubuffet (1901–1985)
“In the early forties and fifties almost everybody “had about enough to live on,” and young ladies dressed well on a hundred dollars a year. The daughters of the richest man in Boston were dressed with scrupulous plainness, and the wife and mother owned one brocade, which did service for several years. Display was considered vulgar. Now, alas! only Queen Victoria dares to go shabby.”
—M. E. W. Sherwood (1826–1903)