Flying Squad (Metropolitan Police Service)
The Flying Squad (Engl .: flying squad ) is a special operations unit of the Metropolitan Police Service in London , UK . The unit is now engaged in the fight against serious and organized crime across London regardless of the boundaries of individual police districts.
history
The unit was created in 1919 as a Mobile Patrol Experiment , as part of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) . It was supposed to fight crime, which had risen sharply after the First World War . When it was founded, it consisted of twelve police officers. They traveled through London in a horse-drawn covered wagon with peepholes cut into the sides. If they saw burglars or pickpockets at work, they would leave the car and arrest them. They also gathered information in pubs and other places known as meeting places for criminals. The Flying Squad was constantly expanded in the 1920s and was given the status of its own unit in 1948.
In the 1970s, the unit came under fire for its close ties to the underworld; a number of corruption scandals were exposed. On July 7, 1977, the unit's commander, Detective Chief Superintendent Kenneth Drury, was sentenced to eight years imprisonment on five counts of corruption . Twelve more convictions followed, and a number of members of the Flying Squad retired from service. 1978 to 1981 it was merged with other units and renamed Central Robbery Squad , but the designation Flying Squad is still used officially.
tasks
The unit is now part of the Serious and Organized Crime Group of the Specialist Crime Directorate in the London Police Department. It is made up of members trained in speed car chases and arrests of gunmen. The Flying Squad deals with the investigation and prevention of armed robbery and related crimes as well as organized crime.
literature
- Norman Lucas, Bernard Scarlett: The Flying Squad . Barker, London 1968, ISBN 0213762242 .
- Neil Darbyshire, Brian Hilliard: The Flying Squad . Headline, London 1993, ISBN 0747206856 .
- Dick Kirby: Rough justice: Memoirs of a Flying Squad Detective. Merlin Unwin, Ludlow 2001, ISBN 1873674473 .