Special Patrol Group
Note: the London Metropolitan Police unit should not be confused with the Special Patrol Group unit of the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
The Special Patrol Group (1965 - 1986)[1] The SPG was a controversial unit of the London Metropolitan Police Service . The unit's modern form is the Territorial Support Group.
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History
The SPG was formed in 1965 to provide a centrally-based mobile squad for combatting particularly serious crime and other problems which could not be dealt with by local divisions.
The group recruited experienced officers capable of working as disciplined teams either in uniform (e.g. tackling street disorder, searches, providing an armed response to the terrorist threat) or on long term complex undercover tasks (e.g. pursuing active criminals, drug operations, carrying out covert observations etc). It had a dedicated radio channel and a fleet vehicles to allow it to work independently of routine police divisions and was capable of rapidly forming for a wide range of tasks ranging from urgent support to other UK police services, to searching for murder weapons or missing people.
The SPG originally consisted of four units in different parts of London, each comprising an Inspector, three Sergeants and roughly 25 Constables. In due course six units were formed, all controlled from a headquarters at Barnes police station in West London.
Its position within the Metropolitan Police was somewhat unique. Whereas the Flying Squad became the supreme symbol of the Criminal Investigation Branch (CID) in London, so the SPG was de facto, recognised as a unit that efficient unformed officers could aspire to join. As such it had an exceptionally high level of esprit de corps that ultimately contributed to its downfall after 20 years of service.
The convenient presence of a disciplined, well-organised team brought the group into increased use for the control of protests and demonstrations, where their presence sometimes came to assume unwanted symbolic significance.
Their most controversial incident came in 1979 when they attended a protest by the Anti-Nazi League in Southall, London, and, during a running battle, demonstrator Blair Peach was allegedly beaten to death. In the inquiries which followed, various weaponry was found in the possession of SPG officers, including baseball bats, crowbars and sledgehammers. No SPG officer was ever charged with the attack, although later, an internal report was leaked which stated that the Metropolitan Police paid an out of court settlement to Peach's family. The SPG was also cited as a major factor in the 1981 Brixton riots.
The SPG was disbanded in 1986, with the role of mobile support and public order unit being taken over by the newly formed Territorial Support Group (TSG).
In popular culture
The SPG are caricatured in Michael de Larrabeiti's Borrible Trilogy novels as the SBG, the Special Borrible Group, who are charged with destroying the way of life of those who will not conform to society's norms.
The SPG was a frequent butt of jokes on Not the Nine O'Clock News including a sketch where Rowan Atkinson criticises a racist police officer with the conclusion 'There's no room for men like you in my force, Savage. I'm transferring you to the SPG'.
In 1982, a destructive hamster was named "Special Patrol Group" by its owner, the punk character Vyvyan in the BBC sitcom The Young Ones. SPG makes a great house pet but should on no account be fed rum cocktail by errant housemates.
Punk band The Exploited wrote the song 'S.P.G' in response to the acts of the group at the time, and also in reference to an incident in which singer and author of the song Wattie Buchan was allegedly arrested by the SPG for violence at a demonstration. This incident is widely believed among the punk community to be untrue, as the SPG was unique of the Met Police and Wattie spent most of his life at the time in Scotland, although it is possible he travelled to London for said demonstration. The song can be found on the 1981 album Punk's Not Dead.
Other uses
- Charlie Mortdecai, in Kyril Bonfiglioli's series of novels, has an uncomfortable run-in with the SPG, although he does get his revenge
- The Special Patrol is mentioned in the poem All Wi Doin is Defendin, by Linton Kwesi Johnson, in which he states that they "will fall", and also in his song "Reggae Fi Peach" where he states "The SPG dem a murderer."
- Mentioned in The Oppressed song "Work Together"
- Mentioned in the Nick Lowe song "Half a Boy & Half a Man"
- Mentioned in the Red Alert song "S.P.G" as well.
"Dreaming of how life could be, If society was free, If we never had no SPG, It's up to you, it's up to me, to me"
- Mentioned in the Jonathan Coe novel The Rotters' Club when one of the characters has a run in with the SPG during a march.