New Scotland Yard
New Scotland Yard [ ˈnjuːˌskɒtlənd ˈjɑːd ] ( English for "new Scottish yard"), often abbreviated as Scotland Yard or just called Yard , is a building in the City of Westminster, London . Scotland Yard is also a common name ( metonym ) for the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) resident in this building .
This is responsible for Greater London with the exception of the City of London , which as an independent city with the City of London Police has its own police authority. In addition to general police duties, the MPS also maintains a database of all criminals in the United Kingdom , assists regional police forces with investigations when requested and provides training and education for all Commonwealth police forces . Colloquially in German-speaking countries, "Scotland Yard" usually means the London criminal investigation department .
The headquarters, known as New Scotland Yard , has been located on Victoria Embankment again since 2016, not far from Westminster underground station .
history
The name Scotland Yard is derived from the original location of the first headquarters in Whitehall Place 4, at the rear of which there was a police station in the direction of Great Scotland Yard . The exact origin of this name is unknown. According to a popular explanation, prior to the unification of England and Scotland, it was the location of the residence of the Scottish ambassadors, as well as the Scottish kings when they were in England.
Scotland Yard was founded in 1829 by the then Home Secretary Robert Peel in order to build up a completely new, powerful police force. In particular, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) achieved worldwide fame due to its investigative methods (e.g. using fingerprints), which is still reflected in numerous literary works and films and has been used as a model by many countries.
The name New Scotland Yard first came about when the Metropolitan Police Service moved its headquarters to a building designed by architect Richard Norman Shaw on Victoria Embankment , near what is now the Ministry of Defense , in 1890 . At that time, Scotland Yard had already become the name of the headquarters, so the police organization decided to keep this name. However, they added the addition New to identify the new location . When the Metropolitan Police Service moved its headquarters to its current premises on Broadway in 1967, the name New Scotland Yard continued to be used.
Since the building on Broadway no longer meets current standards and modernization was too cost-intensive for those responsible, an extension of the former New Scotland Yard location on Victoria Embankment has been converted into the future headquarters since summer 2014 . According to the Mayor of London , renovation work on the building, originally constructed by architect Curtis Green in the 1930s, should be completed by the end of 2016. In preparation for this move, the current headquarters on Broadway were sold to the Abu Dhabi Financial Group in December 2014 for £ 370 million (€ 468 million). On October 31, 2016, the day the building passed to new owners, Metropolitan Police employees left the old headquarters and moved to the new building on Victoria Embankment. The official opening ceremony of the new New Scotland Yard was scheduled for March 23, 2017, but was canceled due to the terrorist attack the day before . The canceled event was rescheduled on July 13, 2017 by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh .
The original Scotland Yard was taken over by the British Army and set up a recruiting office and headquarters for the military police . Today the only remaining part of the original Scotland Yard is a Metropolitan Police stable at 7 Great Scotland Yard. The first New Scotland Yard is now called the Norman Shaw Building, part of which is still used as a police station for the Westminster area (Cannon Row) .
Trivia
The Home Office Large Major Inquiry System is Scotland Yards criminal database , from which the apronym HOLMES results. A training program is also called Elementary , in honor of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous fictional character Sherlock Holmes .
Scotland Yard's phone number was originally Whitehall 1212. Most of the police stations in the London area, like Scotland Yard itself, still have 1212 as the last four digits.
Individual evidence
- ^ Peter Kennison et al .: Discovering More Behind The Blue Lamp. Coppermill Press, Essex 2014, ISBN 978-0-9546534-5-3 , p. 5.
- ↑ Scotland Yard Headquarters Metropolitan Police Service website, accessed May 4, 2016
- ↑ State of the renovation work on the new Scotland Yard headquarters , press release from the Mayor of London, accessed on May 4, 2016.
- ↑ Handelsblatt dated December 9, 2014
- ^ Metropolitan Police staff move out of New Scotland Yard after 49 years. Evening Standard, November 1, 2016, accessed July 18, 2017 .
- ^ Royal opening of new Met Police HQ postponed following London terrorist attack. getwestlondon.co.uk, March 23, 2017, accessed July 18, 2017 .
- ^ Queen and Prince Philip open the new Met headquarters. Daily Mail, July 13, 2017, accessed July 18, 2017 .
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 29 ′ 55 ″ N , 0 ° 7 ′ 59 ″ W.