The Metropolitan Police Force

10 Key excerpts on "The Metropolitan Police Force"

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  Criminal Justice in England and the United States

  • David Hirschel, William Wakefield(Authors)
  • 1995(Publication Date)
  • Praeger

    (Publisher)

  7 The development of the Metropolitan Police in London served as a prototype for the establishment of similar forces elsewhere. The Municipal Corporations Act of 1835 and the County Police Act of 1839 provided for the establishment of police forces outside London. The County and Borough Police Act of 1856 required the establishment and maintenance of police forces. A second impor- tant accomplishment was the assignment of powers to the Home Secretary for control of the police throughout the country, thus allowing for a form of nationwide policing. This served to reconcile the concept of central supervision with local management outside London and struck a balance that remained virtually unchanged until the middle of the twentieth century (Critchley, 1967:101). In fact, during the second half of the nineteenth century, change was quite slow in coming to the police forces throughout England, while significant social and governmental change was rapidly occurring throughout the country (Home Office, 1960:para. 61). TWENTIETH-CENTURY POLICING IN ENGLAND The dawn of the twentieth century found policing in England to be mainly a collection of various remnants of the preceding century. The rural forces remained under local control, and relatively sparse information is recorded concerning their activities (Critchley, 1967). Surviving police histories consist mainly of accounts of the activities of the two London forces: the Metropolitan and City police. 8 For the most part, the constable was represented as a work- ing-class figure who was often the focus of comedy and stage depictions as an individual with singularly low socio-economic roots and an uneducated back- ground. As long as this image was supported, the English citizenry was not concerned about the police and policing; however, as many historians have noted, the introduction of the automobile changed the direction of modern policing in England (Critchley, 1967:176-77; Palmer, 1988:8-10).

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  Murder and Mayhem

  Crime in Twentieth-Century Britain

  • David Nash, Anne-Marie Kilday(Authors)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Bloomsbury Academic

    (Publisher)

  271 1. Introduction At the beginning of the twentieth century, Britain’s police service was still a relatively young institution. It had been created piecemeal, beginning with London’s Metropolitan Police or ‘Met’, established by Sir Robert Peel in 1829, which replaced the capital’s largely amateur and part-time corps of parish constables, watchmen and entrepreneurial thief-takers. Legislation from the 1830s to the 1850s allowed borough and county forces to be established throughout Britain on the London model, 1 though well into the twentieth century they would retain a distinctive organisation and system of local accountability, setting them apart both from each other and from the Met. 2 Established above all in response to elite fears about rising crime levels 3 and the threat to social order posed by the socio-economic and political fallout of the Industrial Revolution, 4 the early days of the ‘New Police’, as it was known, were dogged by con-troversy. Complaints about both over- and under-zealous policing were legion, and there was a long-running dispute between central govern-ment and local authorities, as well as between political factions within local communities, over such issues as democratic accountability and cost. By 1900, however, the criticism and resistance of those early years 10 Law Enforcement: Policies and Perspectives Neil Davie 272 Neil Davie had been largely forgotten, and the model of the disciplined, bureaucrat-ically controlled local force, its officers a familiar presence on the streets as they patrolled in organised ‘beats’, had become accepted (albeit grudg-ingly and within certain limits by those groups most likely to be on the receiving end of a police truncheon) at all levels of British society. 5 By any measure, the structure and practice of law enforcement in Britain would change out of all recognition during the following hun-dred years.

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  Introduction to Policing

  • Michael Rowe, Liam Ralph, Ali Malik(Authors)
  • 2023(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications Ltd

    (Publisher)

  As Emsley (1996: 4) has noted, until relatively recently historical accounts of the development of the British police have only been found in the memoirs of former chief constables, senior politicians and civil servants. These accounts reinforced the established perspective that modern policing systems developed in London in the early decades of the nineteenth century and then, as the wisdom of these arrangements came to be more widely recognised were then slowly expanded across the rest of the country. Orthodox accounts, such as those by Lee (1901) and Reith (1948), regard the establishment of the Metropolitan Police in 1829 as an important stage in the gradual evolution of policing that could be traced back to the Anglo-Saxon era during which a peaceable settled community was directly responsible for its own policing. Lee (1901: ix) introduced his account of the history of the English police in terms that exemplify what Reiner (2000: 15) described as the ‘palpably conservative’ tone of many early histories:

  Our English police system … rests on foundations designed with the full approval of the people … and has been slowly moulded by the careful hand of experience, developing as a rule along the line of least resistance, now in advance of the general intelligence of the country, now lagging far behind, but always in the long run adjusting itself to the popular temper.

  The consensual view places great emphasis on a strong historical theme of community participation that runs, it is claimed, through English police history from the Anglo-Saxon era to the present. Although many historical accounts tend to regard the establishment of the Metropolitan Police in 1829 as a pivotal point, it is clear that there are many features that have endured from earlier periods. Mawby (1999: 30) noted that policing in England between the 1740s and 1850s was characterised by self-policing, community engagement in street patrols, and that the private sector provided many policing services, all features of twenty-first-century police reform. The grassroots engagement of the public in police activity has been central to much of the discourse and practice of policing in Britain. By the end of the first millennium, the population was organised into groups of ten households, known as ‘tythings’, which were themselves grouped together into larger ‘hundreds’ and supervised by a ‘hundredman’ who was accountable to the ‘shire reeve’, or sherrif. When a crime occurred it was the direct duty of all to pursue and apprehend the offender and to present them to the authorities. The subsequent organisation of policing and direct involvement of local people in its operation reflects the early traditions established by the Statute of Winchester in 1285. Ascoli (1979: 16) argued that the Statute was ‘one of the most important, and certainly one of the most durable, of all constitutional measures’. Some of the key provisions of the Statute are outlined in Box 2.1

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  Policing and Criminology

  • Craig Paterson, Ed Pollock(Authors)
  • 2011(Publication Date)
  • Learning Matters

    (Publisher)

  1996 , page 25) notes that the statistics used by Peel were dubious; yet it is clear that there was a view among the ruling classes that crime and disorder were perceived to be a problem. The demise of transportation to North America and the decreasing faith in capital punishment meant that new modes of crime control were in demand. The persistent presence of street disorder and political radicalism, often inspired by the American and French revolutions, generated a paranoia among the ruling class that working-class activism could disrupt international trade and even present a revolutionary threat. Concern about political unrest and rising crime increased demand for a more efficient criminal justice system and it was against this backdrop that support for the establishment of a police force was built.

  The orthodox viewpoint is underpinned by a belief that there is a general consensus across society about what the police should be doing and how they should do it. This is evident in the early police histories which view the establishment of a professional police force as a product of forward thinking reformers. While there was significant resistance to the idea of a centralised police force, not least from the threat of adopting a continental, militarised system, support for reforms of the existing watch system grew in the early part of the nineteenth century. The main aim of this reform was to develop a more efficient system of crime prevention through the development of a paid police force that would replace the focus on detection. The existing structure of constable, watchman and justice of the peace placed too much emphasis on the victim, requiring them to pay a fee for a thief-taker to track down an offender. This system provided little incentive for constables to deal with low-level crime and was subject to corruption.

  When Robert Peel was appointed as Home Secretary in 1822 he sought to restore public support for the criminal justice system by making it more efficient through a process of centralisation. Thus, the creation of the Metropolitan Police in 1829 involved a shift in responsibility for policing from the London authorities to central government. Views on the role of government were also changing. Good government had previously been interpreted as the state playing a minimal role so as not to interfere with the rights of citizens. Political unrest and rising crime had changed this, and governmental security was increasingly being perceived by the ruling classes as their best form of protection from the dangerous classes. From here we can see how the police’s role as protectors of life and property developed as the protection of these rights came to outweigh the rights of minimum interference from the state.

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  The British Police

  • Jenifer M. Hart(Author)
  • 2023(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Chapter VI The Metropolitan Police Force

  Distinctive Characteristics

  It is paradoxical that the force which is most familiar to foreign observers and which is usually regarded as the prototype of all British police forces should be the only one in the whole country which does not exemplify one of the most characteristic features of the British police service—its control by local authorities. British and foreign writers make much of the local control of the British police; they refer to the ‘constitutional principle’ that the preservation of law and order is in Great Britain primarily the function of local authorities. How is this principle reconciled with the fact that one in four of our policemen belongs to a force over which no local authority has any control whatsoever and which is under the direct control of the Home Secretary? In truth The Metropolitan Police Force confounds the theories of most writers about police organisation in this country. No local authority plays any part in its management, and yet it is popular and usually considered to be scrupulous in the exercise of its powers. A recent Home Secretary described it as the most popular force in the whole country, indeed in the civilised world; and yet, he said, it is a State police, a national force. It would, however, be wrong to think of the force as having always been popular: it has been severely criticised at intervals ever since 1829 and has been the subject of many official enquiries.

  The Metropolitan Police Force differs in many ways from all other forces in this country. In the first place it is far larger: in 1949 the authorised establishment of the force was 20,000. The actual strength was only 15,500, but even so it was seven times the size of the next largest and 700 times the size of the smallest force. The area of which it is in charge, the Metropolitan police district, extends for about 15 miles from Charing Cross in all directions, except for the City of London which has its own force. Secondly, the Metropolitan police district cuts across ordinary local government boundaries: it includes the whole of the counties of London and Middlesex, parts of the counties of Kent, Surrey, Essex and Hertford, and the three county boroughs of Croydon, West Ham and East Ham; but none of the councils of these counties or county boroughs has any voice whatsoever in the administration or control of The Metropolitan Police Force although they have to pay towards its cost. Thirdly, for The Metropolitan Police Force, the Home Secretary is the police authority, that is to say, he has vis-à-vis this force the powers and functions possessed by provincial police authorities vis-à-vis their forces, but the relationship in practice is very different. He also has over The Metropolitan Police Force the powers he possesses qua

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  Introduction to Policing and Police Powers

  • Leonard Jason-Lloyd(Author)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Routledge-Cavendish

    (Publisher)

  It should be noted that the police authority in respect of the City of London Police is the Common Council of the City of London, although separate and quite unique arrangements once existed regarding the Metropolitan Police. In July 2000, the Metropolitan Police Authority was instituted and this was the first time that such an authority existed within the Metropolis of London. For many years, the issue of accountability of the Metropolitan Police had been severely criticised by a number of commentators. The Home Secretary had previously constituted the police authority for the Metropolis, which has the largest police force in the UK (approximately 35,000 police officers). Although there was provision originally under s 106 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and, more recently, under s 96 of the Police Act 1996 for consultations between the police and local consultative groups, there had never been an actual police authority for the Metropolis of London compared with those that exist in other parts of England and Wales. Therefore, under s 106 of the 1984 Act and then s 96 of the 1996 Act, special provision was made whereby the Home Secretary issued guidance to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner in respect of obtaining the views of the community on policing the capital.

  Sections 310—325 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 now institute a police authority for the Metropolis of London. However, in April 1995, a body was formed called the Metropolitan Police Committee . This originally consisted of 12 members appointed by the Home Secretary to advise and assist the Metropolitan Police Commissioner in maintaining an efficient and effective police service, and this body was used to prepare for the institution of the Metropolitan Police Authority in July 2000. The Committee compiled regular annual reports and was under the chairmanship of Sir John Quinton.

  The institution of the Metropolitan Police Authority is inextricably linked with the Greater London Authority, since the relatively new police authority consists of 23 members, 12 of which are selected by the Mayor of London and are members of the Greater London Assembly, including the Deputy Mayor. The Metropolitan Police Authority may select its own chairperson from among its own members and this does not discount the Deputy Mayor of London. Other members of the new police authority include seven independent persons and four magistrates. The independent faction includes one person appointed directly by the Home Secretary and, up until recently,the four magistrates were appointed by the Greater London Magistrates’ Courts Authority. This has been changed as a result of s 6 of the Courts Act 2003, which abolished magistrates’ courts committees, including the Greater London Magistrates’ Courts Authority. This change is due to the Lord Chancellor taking over responsibility for the magistrates’ courts.

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  The Criminal Justice System

  An Introduction, Fifth Edition

  • Ronald J. Waldron, Chester L. Quarles, David H. McElreath, Michelle E. Waldron, David Ethan Milstein(Authors)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Paid police or watchmen were used in the cities of England during the 1700s. In 1829, Sir Robert Peel intro-duced an act in Parliament that established the Metropolitan Police of London. This police force served as a model for later American police forces. Colonial Americans adopted the English offices of sheriff and constable. In the 1800s city police organizations were created in the large cities, but the establishment of the New York City Police Department in 1844 is considered to be the establishment of the first city police organization. Other cities soon followed. The sheriffs and constables continued to provide law enforcement for the rural areas. The states and the federal government also de-veloped law enforcement agencies. The Texas Rangers were established in 1835, and in 1905 the Pennsylvania State Constabulary was estab-142 Part Two: Law Enforcement lished. The Pennsylvania police force became the model for later state police organizations. The federal government established the United States Marshal and the Revenue Cutter Service in 1789. In 1865 the Secret Service was estab-lished, and in 1908 the forerunner of the Federal Bureau of Investigation was organized. In time, more than 50 federal law enforcement agencies have evolved, with the Immigration and Cus-toms Enforcement (ICE) of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) being the most recent major agency. Key Terms bailiff kin policing lex talionis messengers patrolier polis Praetorian Guard quaestor Runners Sureté thief-takers vigiles Discussion Questions 1. Discuss the concept of kin policing. 2. Describe the early development of polic-ing in Greece. 3. What were the quarstors’ primary du-ties? 4. Describe the early contributions of Eu-gene Francois Vidocq. 5. List several historically influential police agencies that used extensive intelligence operations within their investigative units. 6. How did the frankpledge system work? 7. Describe the contributions of Henry Fielding and Dr.

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  Talent Management

  Cases and Commentary

  • Eddie Blass(Author)
  • 2009(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  19 Case Study of the Metropolitan Police Marion Devine The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS or Met) is one of the largest police services in the world, employing approximately 49,000 police officers, police staff, traffic wardens and police community support officers. The service employs some 31,000 police officers and 18,000 police staff working in various management, administrative and support functions. Local day- to-day policing is the responsibility of the Met’s 32 borough operational command units (BOCUs). Various central specialist units, such as Special Operations and the Specialist Crime Directorate, are responsible for poli- cing serious and specialist crime, and preparation for the Olympics and other public order policing. Section 1: Overview Strategic context Due to the complexity of policing the UK’s capital city, the MPS mainly recruits its police officers from school leavers and graduates and expects to retain them for a span of 20 to 35 years through to retirement. Recruits join as police constables, and then progress through the ranks, spending varying degrees of time working in over 100 local borough and specialist units. MPS has a long track record in TM but as it looks ahead, it sees a number of challenges on the horizon that will require a different approach to iden- tifying, developing and retaining talent. Key challenges include: • The increasing pressure and complexity of modern policing, for exam- ple, new threats such as international terrorism, greater pressure for accountability, and intensifying public scrutiny. • An increasingly diverse and multi-ethnic London population. If the Met’s own workforce is to mirror this diversity, it will have to accelerate its pos- itive action initiatives and also ensure that high potential employees from minority groups have equal access to talent management processes. 237

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  Police Use of Force under International Law

  • Stuart Casey-Maslen, Sean Connolly(Authors)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Cambridge University Press

    (Publisher)

  100 94 Cited by Miller, Cops and Bobbies, p. 62. 95 Ibid., p. 117. 96 Cowley, A History of the British Police, p. 31. 97 Ibid., p. 35. 98 Reith, A New Study of Police History, p. 149. 99 Cowley, A History of the British Police, p. 215. See: www.policememorial.org.uk/. 100 See, e.g., R. Evans, ‘Undercover Police Spy Accused of Encouraging Activist to Crime’, The Guardian, 4 December 2014, at: www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/dec/04/under cover-met-spy-animal-rights-overturn-conviction-appeal. policing in england and wales 25 What is less well known is that this tactic dates back to the early days of policing. In the 1830s, Police Sergeant William Popay successfully infil- trated the radical National Political Union in London but went consider- ably beyond the intended role of ‘listen and report’ to actively encouraging extremist actions through his violent anti-police rants. 101 Outside London, policing remained largely ad hoc while crime was rampant. A three-year Commission rendered its report in 1839, recom- mending the creation of a single police force for the entire country, organised along the lines of the Metropolitan Police and operating ostensibly under its control. The force, which would be funded one quarter by Great Britain’s Exchequer with the remainder coming from county rates, was a political non-starter. Law enforcement outside the capital was under the control of county magistrates, and they had no interest, much less any inclination, to hand over such power to Londoners. Cowley found the Commission’s ignorance of human nature and misreading of the times ‘astonishing’. 102 In 1856, the County and Borough Police Act made police forces obligatory for every such area; local not national accountability, however, was the only realistic way to achieve this step forward.

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  Policing the Victorian Town

  The Development of the Police in Middlesborough, c.1840-1914

  • D. Taylor(Author)
  • 2002(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  9 The Police and the Public from the 1870s to 1914 Late-Victorian and Edwardian England was a policed society in a way that set it apart from Regency and early-Victorian England and that had more in common with the twentieth-century experience, at least until the 1970s. This did not mean that the police were universally liked. The Times painted an over-rosy picture of working-class attitudes with its reference to the ‘handyman of the streets’ but the very fact of a policed society was evidence of the ability of the police to win support and defuse or disperse opposition to such an extent that much of their work was unquestioned and many of their men went about that work unchallenged. 1 Despite the importance of this development, policing late-Victorian and Edwardian England has not attracted the same degree of detailed attention from historians. The broad outlines have been established and offer a relatively comforting image of society that contrasts with the experience of the late twentieth century. 2 However, there is a danger not only of losing the subtlety that comes from an appreciation of the variety of local experience, but also of underesti- mating the problems that still faced the police in the second and third generations, and thus of overstating the stability of that policed society so praised by The Times in the early twentieth century. Middlesbrough’s peculiarly rapid growth had created a range of social troubles and social tensions that, in part, manifested themselves in conflicts between the town’s still inexperienced police and certain sections of its working-class population, especially in the 1860s. The last quarter of the nineteenth century saw an easing of tensions as the town, its inhabitants and institutions, moved from the turbulence of its ‘frontier’ days to greater stability and maturity. At the same time as the town’s police force became more professional, the recorded crime rate in Middlesbrough fell dramatically.

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