The Royal Parks Operational Command Unit, also known as the Royal Parks Police, is a unit of the Metropolitan Police which has responsibility for policing the Royal Parks found in central London. [1] [2] [3] Core police teams patrol the 17 royal parks, gardens and other open spaces within the Metropolitan Police District – an area in excess of 6,000 acres (24 km2). [4]
Spread across the five boroughs in which the various Parks are located, the pan-London service given by the Royal Parks Operational Command Unit is in addition to that provided by local borough police. The unit is currently commanded by a Superintendent.[ citation needed ] While the focus of the unit across most of London is policing crime and disorder, certain parks such as Richmond Park emphasise 'environmental policing' for breaches of park regulations. [5]
The OCU began to take over policing responsibility for the parks in April 2004 during a period of transfer of functions from the Royal Parks Constabulary (RPC). [5] The RPC was finally abolished as a constabulary in 2006. [6] [4] Between 2004 and 2015, the number of police in the unit was reduced from 160 to 105 officers. [5]
Between 2004 and 2011, the number of crimes recorded in all Royal Parks rose from 916 to 2,373. [7] According to the Metropolitan Police, this was due to more 'proactive policing' for drug offences; the majority of arrests were for cannabis possession. [7]
The OCU is responsible for policing Abingdon Street Garden; the Barge Walk Hampton Court; Brompton Cemetery; Bushy Park; the Longford River, and those parts of its banks which are for the time being under the control of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport; Greenwich Park; Grosvenor Square Gardens; Hyde Park; Kensington Gardens; Primrose Hill; Regent's Park; Richmond Park; St. James's Park; Green Park; Victoria Tower Gardens.[ citation needed ]
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly known as the Metropolitan Police, which is still its common name, serves as the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and crime prevention within Greater London. In addition, it is responsible for specialised tasks throughout the United Kingdom, such as dealing with counter-terrorism throughout the UK, and the protection of certain individuals, including the monarch, royal family, governmental officials, and other designated figures. Commonly referred to as the Met, it is also referred to as Scotland Yard or the Yard, after the location of its original headquarters in Great Scotland Yard, Whitehall in the 19th century. The Met is presently headquartered at New Scotland Yard, on the Victoria Embankment.
Law enforcement in the United Kingdom is organised separately in each of the legal systems of the United Kingdom: England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Most law enforcement duties are carried out by those who hold the office of police constable of a territorial police force.
The Royal Parks Constabulary (RPC) was the police force formerly responsible for the Royal Parks in London and a number of other locations in Greater London, England and Edinburgh, Scotland. Unlike most other police forces operating in England and Wales, the Royal Parks Constabulary did not report to the Home Office, but instead to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, who provided funding for it through the Royal Parks Agency.
Police ranks are a system of hierarchical relationships in police organisations. The rank system defines authority and responsibility in a police organisation, and affects the culture within the police force. Usually, uniforms denote the bearer's rank by particular insignia affixed to the uniforms.
A Basic Command Unit (BCU) is the largest unit into which territorial British Police forces are divided BCUs may alternatively be called an Area Command or a Division.They will also contain smaller, more local teams which are often called a Local Policing Unit (LPU) or a Local Policing Team (LPT). There are 228 BCUs in England and Wales.
Operation Trident, or simply Trident, is a Metropolitan Police unit originally set up in 1998 as an initiative with the police to tackle "black-on-black" gun crime following a series of shootings in the London boroughs of Lambeth and Brent. By 2008 the unit was responsible for investigating all non-fatal shootings for the Metropolitan Police, and in February 2012 the unit's remit was again expanded: the new Trident Gang Crime Command was launched, incorporating responsibility for tackling wider gang crime. In 2013 the unit gave up responsibility for investigating fatal shootings, which was taken over by the Homicide and Serious Crime Command.
The Specialist Operations directorate is a unit of the Metropolitan Police in London, England. It is responsible for providing specialist policing capabilities, including national security and counter-terrorism operations. The Specialist Operations directorate is currently led by Assistant Commissioner Matt Jukes.
The Metropolitan Police District (MPD) is the police area which is policed by the Metropolitan Police Service in London. It currently consists of the ceremonial county of Greater London, which excludes the City of London. The Metropolitan Police District was created by the Metropolitan Police Act 1829 as an ad hoc area of administration because the built-up area of London spread at the time into many parishes and counties without an established boundary. The district expanded as the built up area grew and stretched some distance into rural land. When county police forces were set up in England, those of Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent and Surrey did not cover the parts of the counties within the MPD, while Middlesex did not have a county force. Similarly, boroughs in the MPD that elsewhere would have been entitled to their own police force did not have them.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester in North West England.
The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing the counties of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in South East England.
The Kew Constabulary is a small, specialised constabulary responsible for policing the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in Richmond-upon-Thames, England.
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Parks Police is a body of constables responsible for policing the parks and open spaces of the London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. In 2013, it was merged with the Hammersmith and Fulham Parks Constabulary to form the Parks Police Service. Then, in July 2019 The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Parks Police moved away from The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham Parks Constabulary, once again becoming a single service.
The Metropolitan Special Constabulary (MSC) is the volunteer police force of the Metropolitan Police Service. It is one of three Special Constabularies operating within London, the others being part of the City of London Police and British Transport Police. The service was created over 190 years ago under the Special Constables Act 1831. As of November 2021 it consists of 1,450 officers, making it the largest in the UK.
Territorial Operations was a group of eighteen specialist Metropolitan Police units which were set up in 1986 as part of Sir Kenneth Newman's restructuring of the Metropolitan Police Service. The Territorial Operations units were designed to support the Metropolitan Police areas—while area-based policing was designed to decentralise the operations of New Scotland Yard, the TO units were intended to provide central operational and logistic support to Areas and divisional OCUs.
The Traffic Operational Command Unit (OCU), formally known as CO15, was the Road Policing Unit for the Metropolitan Police Service in Greater London, England.
The Royal Parks make up land that was originally used for the recreation, mostly hunting, by the royal family. They are part of the hereditary possessions of The Crown, now managed by The Royal Parks, a charity which manages eight royal parks and certain other areas of parkland in London. The Royal Parks charity was created as a company limited by guarantee in March 2017 and officially launched in July 2017. Its chief executive is Andrew Scattergood.
MetCC, also known as the Met Contact Centre, Met Command and Control or MO12, is a department of Met Operations within Greater London's Metropolitan Police Service. It is the communications centre responsible for receiving emergency and non-emergency contact within the Metropolitan Police, the deployment of police resources and the command and control of special operations. MetCC operates out of three centres located at Lambeth, Hendon and Bow.
The Metropolitan Police of Greater London, England is organised into five main directorates, each headed by an Assistant Commissioner, and four civilian-staffed support departments previously under the umbrella of Met Headquarters, each headed by a Chief Officer, the equivalent civilian grade to Assistant Commissioner. Each business groups or directorate has differing responsibilities. The commands are Frontline Policing, Met Operations, Specialist Operations and Professionalism.
The Parks Regulation Act 1872 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, covering policing and regulation of seventeen royal parks, consisting of fifteen in London and two in Scotland. It now has no outstanding effects.