Scotland yard - its history and role

In 1829, Sir Robert Peel, the then Home Secretary, received au­thority from Parliament for the formation of a newly organised po­lice force.

His first job was to select suitable headquarters for the new force. They had to be centrally situated, and near to the Home Of­fice, since the Home Secretary was to be the chief police authority.

A large house at 4 Whitehall Place was eventually chosen. Tradi­tionally the building, backing on to an ancient court, once formed part of the old Royal Palace of Whitehall. Members of the Scottish Royal Family were housed here when visiting the English Court.

An Act of 1534 defined the Palace Boundaries, referring to ‘a croft or piece of land commonly named Scotland’. A Palace plan drawn in Stuart times shows a double court or yard named ‘Scotland Yard’.

The official address of the new police HQ[8] was 4 Whitehall Place, but visitors, press and members of the public, accustomed to using the rear entrance in Scotland Yard itself, came to refer to the Com­missioner’s HQ as ‘Scotland Yard’.

Eventually the unofficial address became official, with the police headquarters known by its now world-famous title ‘Scotland Yard’. Of course, with time the MP force grew and when it reached 13,000 officers by the 1870s, the scale of its operations and administrative support had grown enormously so that new HQ offices were needed.

An Embankment site, originally intended for a grand opera house, became available. Problems with building foundations and financial mismanagement ruined the original plans and the site was acquired for the new police headquarters.

Richard Norman Shaw, the eminent architect, was commissioned to design the building. Prison convicts helped in its construction, since 2,500 tons of granite, was used to build the lower floors.

The Norman Shaw building, overlooking the Thames, was com­pleted in 1890, and all the relevant support departments installed.

Due to its popularity the police authorities decided the name ‘Scot­land Yard’ should be kept.

Another building ‘Scotland House’ was erected some years later, south of the Yard. The block housed the Receiver and his staff, re­sponsible for police finances and supplies.

In 1961 the Receiver’s office moved to Tintagel House on the Albert Embankment, on the South Bank of the Thames. Other police departments then transferred to Scotland House. In 1966 the Com­missioner’s and Receiver’s office were combined. In 1967 they moved to their present modern tower block at Broadway, SWI[9], close to the Home Office in Queen Anne’s Gate. Once again, the famous name of Scotland Yard was kept, and the headquarters for the Commis­sioner’s and Receiver’s offices, police and administrative offices, remains one of the most famous addresses in the world.

The Receiver’s role is Chief Administrative Officer to the Force, and the provision of police property and supplies needed by the po­lice. He is responsible to the Commissioner and has statutory respon­sibility to the Home Secretary, the Police Authority for the Metropoli­tan Police District.

The Receiver administers the Metropolitan Police Fund and is head of its civil staff, with specific responsibility for all civilian departments. He is assisted by the Deputy Receiver, who has statutory authority to act in his absence.

The Metropolitan Police District covers Greater London and cer­tain outlying areas; therefore the Met 's HQ departments form part of a much greater organisation, which aims to ensure everyone living or working in London, and visitors to the Capital, can enjoy peace and safety under the law. To this end, the Metropolitan Police and its famous headquarters have grown and changed enormously since 1829. But its ultimate purpose remains unchanged.

COMMUNITY REFLATIONS

The Metropolitan Police Service has always believed that the re­lationship between the police and the public it serves is of great im­portance. To this end in 1968 a specific branch, now called the Com­munity Affairs and Crime Prevention Branch, was set up at New Scotland Yard.

The Community Affairs and Crime Prevention Branch has re­sponsibility for community and race relations, youth affairs, school crime prevention involvement and youth and community projects. The Branch also promotes partnerships with outside bodies and organisa­tions working together to prevent crime and it provides information on crime prevention.

THE COMMUNITY LIAISON OFFICER

Much valuable work can be and is being done at Scotland Yard, but the overall local responsibility for community relations lies with the officers serving on the Division of the Metropolitan Police Dis­trict. For each local authority area there is a Chief Inspector or Su­perintendent solely responsible for this aspect of police work - he or she is known as the Community Liaison Officer (CLO). The CLO is also in charge of the Youth and Community Section.

The activities of the CLO will depend to a considerable extent upon the nature of the local

community. He or she has four main functions. He encourages and coordinates activities between the police and the rest of the community; he tries to ensure that all mem­bers within the community know him and understand his liaison role; he makes sure local police officers are aware of community prob­lems and how they can help to solvethem; and he has overall super­vision of the Youth and Community Section.

The CLQ organises visits to primary and secondary schools. These visits are a vital part of any community relations programme. The importance of contact between the police, teachers and school chil­dren cannot be overstressed. Talks and demonstrations are given on a variety of subjects such as the role of police in society, criminal law, road safetyand the citizen’s rightsand duties.

Visiting schools can help to reduce friction between police and young people. In the atmosphere of the classroom and with open discussion, children get the chance to meet police officers without confrontation.This enables children to realise police officers are not impersonal figures of authority.

School children are not the only people who receive talks from police officers. The CLO arranges talks by himself, and other offic­ers, to many interested organisations who have asked for a talk by a police officer. Examples of such groups are parent/teacher associa­tions, church groups, youth clubs, tenant associations, organisations representing ethnic minorities and many others.

The more groups the CLO can meet the more the local police can become aware of the needs of the local community. The CLO is therefore only too ready to respond to the many invitations he re­ceives.

The CLO does not restrict his activities in this field merely to dis­cussion. He actively involves himself by sitting on numerous commit­tees, providing a police input into areas ranging from the management of youth clubs to non-accidental injuryto children. In different areas of London, CLOs have involved themselves with schemes for unem­ployed youths, local housing development schemes to minimise van­dalism, supporting victimsof crime and providing links with those who for various reasons have become alienated from the rest of the community.

The other important function of the CLO is supervision of proce­dures for dealing with young offenders. The main purpose is to examine juvenile crime more closely and, if possible, to prevent a child being saddled, at an early age, with a Criminal Record.

THE HOME BEAT OFFICER

An important link between the police and the community is the local Home Beat Officer. The Home Beat Officer is attached to a particular beat and, while he or she is on duty, is responsible for that beat. It is his job to get to know it and the people who live there.

In many ways he can be likened to the traditional image of the ‘village bobby’. He or she patrols the beat on foot wherever possible, which gives the maximum opportunity to meet people and learn their problems.

It is also an important part of his job to get to know, and be known by, school children and he has a special responsibility to give talks to children in the schools on his beat. All this does not mean the Home Beat Officer is just a public relations man. He remains an operational police officer, investigating crimes and arresting or reporting those who break the law’.

THE SECTOR OFFICER

To give the community a greater sense of security and involvement with police at a local level policing styles have changed from being time based on a shift system to being based on local geographic sectors.

Together with the local Home Beat Officer, the Sector Officer will play a vital role in maintaining close contacts at a local level with innumerable tenants associations, voluntary groups and community organisations etc.

The Sector Officer will form a working group bringing together those who work and live there, other agencies who have a professional or statutory responsibility and local voluntary bodies. Through the Sector Officer the groups can communicate the fears and concerns of the community and provide a forum for solutions which can be agreed and implemented by all agencies working together.