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Scotland Yard's Headquarters from 2000
[Compiled in July 2019 and subject to potential research errors and subsequent changes]
In 2000, the Home Secretary relinquished the responsibility of being the Police Authority for the Metropolitan Police Service. The post of Receiver was abolished, and the Mayor of London and the Greater London Authority took responsibility for the MPS. MOPAC, Mayors Office for Policing and Crime was introduced. Parts of Essex, Hertfordshire and Surrey were transferred to neighbouring police forces to make boundaries align with those country boundaries. Under the then Sir John Stevens as Commissioner, each London Borough then became the territorial basis of one single Borough Command Unit.
The number of Assistant Commissioners was reduced to: Territorial Policing, Specialist Operations and Policy Review & Standards (PRS). The post of Head of Human Resources was held by a serving Assistant Commissioner for a short period before reverting to a senior member of the civil staff.
This reorganisation entailed the effective abolition of Areas, with their uniformed policing support units (eg Dogs section, Mounted Branch, Territorial Support Units, Traffic) being transferred to a DAC in charge of Westminster and pan-London units. Major crime investigations were transferred from Areas to SO1. Four Commanders each undertook some responsibility for oversight of Boroughs in a quarter of London.
The Deputy Commissioners Command then held:
· Directorate of Public Affairs (DPA)
· Corporate Development Group (Best Value, Strategic Planning)
· Directorate of Information
· Diversity Directorate
and, through the AC (PRS):
· Operational Policy Support Unit
· CIS Consultancy Group
· Directorate of Legal Services
· Directorate of Professional Standards
· Directorate of Quality Performance and Review
· Realignment.
SO1 contained
(1 Murder Operations centre
Serious Crime Group - SCG West
SCG East
SCG South
( Operation Trident (drugs dealing and violence in Brixton and elsewhere)
Forensic Support
Other SO branches included:
SO5 Child Protection
SO7 Serious and Organised Crime
By February 2002, some adjustments were made:
The Deputy Commissioners command added MPS drugs policy and coordination.
AC Specialist Operations dealt with counter terrorism, Special Branch, protection, the SO19 firearms branch, and Heathrow Airport.
AC Crime and Intelligence was responsible for drug enforcement and diversion, RIPA (regulation of investigatory powers such as telephone intercepts), NIM (National Intelligence Model), homicide, specialist crime including child protection and cross border & organised crime.
C3i was a project to reorganise command and control systems including the response to 999 calls and the replacement of Divisional control rooms with a more centralised system.
AC Territorial Policing had two DACs, one of whom was responsible for Borough Commanders and Crime Operations; DAC Operations Support dealt with patrol and C3i, operational performance & coordination, community safety & partnership, investigation & criminal justice, public order and pan-London units, and transport.
Transport OCU took charge of policing on London buses
2007
Under Commissioner the then Sir Ian Blair, with the London Olympic Games being planned, there served the Deputy Commissioner and five Assistant Commissioners:
AC Territorial Policing was responsible for senior officers with the following roles:
· Director of Operations
· Director of Business Development
· Borough Commander, Westminster
· Territorial Policing Violent Crime and SW Link Commander
· Volume Crime and Criminal Justice
· Modernising Ops, Performance and SE Link Commander
· NE Link Commander
· Safer Neighbourhoods and NW Link Commander
AC Central Operations
· Olympics
· Head of Olympics OCU
· Public Order
· Public Order and pan-London Units
· Security and Protection
· Traffic and transport
· Specialist Firearms OCU and National Identification Bureau
· Head of Business Support
AC Specialist Operations
· National Coordinator of Terrorist Investigations
· Royalty and Personal Protection
· Security Command
· Protection Command
AC Specialist Crime Directorate (with some Branches having SCD prefix)
· Director of Operations and Tasking
· Deputy Director of Intelligence
· Homicide
· Trident/Criminal networks
· Director of Forensic Services
· Child Abuse and Economic Crime
· Covert policing
· MIB
· Director of Business Support
AC Operational Services (later Professional Standards and Intelligence)
· Diversity and Citizen Focus
· Deputy Director of Professional Standards
· July Review Group
· Head of Central Communications Command
· Director of Legal Services
· OS Business Manager
2012
In 2012 Central Operations seems to have included:
Specialist Firearms and Roads Policing
Public Order & Operational Support
CO1 Business Development & Business Support
CO3 Emergency preparedness
CO5 Firearms Command Unit
CO11 Public Order & Operational Support OCU (Operational Command Unit), including
CO11(2) Public Order Training,
CO11(3) Mounted Branch,
CO11(7) Dog Support Unit
CO11(8) Marine Policing Unit
CO11(9) Air Support Unit
CO15 Traffic OCU
CO16 Traffic Criminal Justice
CO19 Specialist Firearms Command
CO20 Territorial Support group (with Units TSG1 TSG5)
Specialist Operations included:
SO1 Specialist Protection
SO6 Diplomatic Protection
SO14 Royalty Protection Department
SO15 Counter Terrorism Command
SO17 Palace of Westminster
SO18 Aviation Security
SO20 Counter Terrorism (CT) Protective Security Command
SO23 Specialist Operations Olympic Command
Specialist Crime included:
SCD1 Homicide & Serious Crime
SCD2 Sapphire (rape investigation)
SCD3/20/26 Prevention & Partnership/ Crime Academy / Operational Information Service
SCD4 Forensic Services
SCD5 Child Abuse Investigation
SCD6 Specialist & Economic Crime
SCD7 Serious & Organised Crime
SCD8 Trident (gang crime, often drugs and firearms-related)
SCD9 Human Exploitation & Organised Crime
SCD10 Covert policing
SCD11 Criminal Intelligence
SCD12/15 Business Support
SCD30 Olympic Intelligence Unit
After the London 2012 Olympic Games, Specialist Crime and some Specialist Operations combined:
SCO1 Homicide and Serious Crime Command
SCO2 Rape and Serious Sexual Assaults Command
SCO3 Specialist Crime Reduction Command
SCO5 Child Abuse Investigation Command
SCO7 Serious and Organised Crime Command
SCO8 Trident Gang Crime Command
SCO9 Specialist and Economic Crime Command
SCO10 Covert Policing
SCO11 Surveillance
SCO15 - Traffic OCU
SCO16 Performance Improvement Unit
SCO19 Counter Terrorist Specialist Firearms Officers
SCO20 Territorial Support Group
SO1 Specialist Protection
SO15 - Counter Terrorism Command
SO17 Palace of Westminster
2018-19
Four Assistant Commissioners are responsible for Frontline Policing, Met Operations, Specialist Operations and Professionalism. Departments run by Assistant Commissioners, or sections of them, had sometimes been referred to as Directorates, with short titles then being shown as, for instance, SCD7.
Assistant Commissioner Frontline Policing is responsible for what was previously Territorial Policing,
12 Basic Command Units (each comprising two or more London boroughs), plus Specialist Crime North, Specialist Crime South, and Central Specialist Crime.
Another Assistant Commissioner took charge of large parts of what had previously been Specialist Crime and Operations, now known as Met Operations:
MO1 - Chief Officers Group
MO2 Met Intelligence
MO3 Covert policing
MO4 Forensic Services
MO5 Covert governance
MO6 Public Order Planning
MO7 Taskforce (Territorial Support Group; Marine Policing Unit; Dog Support Unit; Mounted Branch)
MO8 Roads and Transport Policing Command
MO9 Met Detention
MO10 Met Prosecutions
MO11 Operational Support Services
MO12 Met Command & Control
MO19 Specialist Firearms Command
Assistant Commissioner Specialist Operations took charge of:
Protection and Security Operations (headed by a DAC)
· Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection (PaDP)
· Royalty and Specialist Protection (RaSP)
· Aviation Policing (AP) Heathrow and London City airports
Counter Terrorism Command (CTC - SO15) (headed by a DAC)
Summary of Branches:
SO1 Specialist protection (now within Protection Command)
SO2 Crime Support branch / Departmental Support Group
SO3 Scenes of Crime Branch / Directorate of Forensic Services (now part of Specialist Crime Directorate as SCD4 Forensic Services)
SO4 National Identification Service
SO5 Miscellaneous Force Indexes / Child Protection (now SCD Child Abuse Investigation team)
SO6 Fraud Squad (now SCD6 Economic and Specialist Crime)
SO7 Serious and Organised Crime (renamed to Serious and Organised Crime Group SCD7)
SO8 Forensic Science Laboratory
SO9 Flying Squad (now in SCD7, but retains same title and role)
SO10 Crime operations Group (now SCD10 Covert Policing)
SO11 Criminal Intelligence Branch
SO12 Special Branch (merged with SO13 to become Counter Terrorism Command)
SO13 Anti-Terrorism Branch
SO14 Royalty Protection Branch (now within Protection Command)
SO15 - Counter-Terrorism Command
SO16 Diplomatic protection Group (now within Protection Command)
SO17 Police National Computer Bureau (now with Police Information Technology Organisation)
SO18 Aviation Security / Airport policing (now within Aviation Policing)
SO19 Force Firearms Unit (SCO19 now CO19)
SO20 Forensic Medical Examiners Branch
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