Specialist Operations
The Specialist Operations directorate is a unit of the
History
At its peak, Specialist Operations (SO) was a group of twenty specialist units, which were formed to give the Metropolitan Police a specialist policing capability. The SO designation was implemented in 1986 as part of Sir Kenneth Newman's restructuring of the Metropolitan Police Service. Most of the units designated SO units were already in existence, many of them as departments of C Division and its branches, and all were presided over by an Assistant Commissioner of Special Operations (ACSO).
In 1999 its Organised Crime Group took over residual work from the disbanded
Structure
The Specialist Operations Directorate comprises three commands.[7]
Protection Command
The
- Royalty and Specialist Protection (RaSP) provides personal protection for the royal family, the prime minister, government ministers, ambassadors, visiting heads of state and other individuals deemed to be at risk. RaSP also provide armed security at royal residences in London, Windsor, and Scotland. The Special Escort Group (SEG) is also operated by Special Operations.[9]
- Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection (PaDP) provides armed protection of embassies, missions and the Parliamentary Estate. They also provide residential protection for high-profile government ministers and are responsible for access control and security at Downing Street and New Scotland Yard. PaDP was formed in April 2015, with the merger of the Diplomatic Protection Group (SO16, formerly SO6) and the Palaces of Westminster Command (SO17).[9]
Security Command
The Security Command is led by a commander and overseen by the same
- respectively, as they are not located in the Metropolitan Police area.
- Protective Security Operations
Counter Terrorism Command
The
Structure until April 2015
Protection Command
Until April 2015, the Protection Command was split into three units that provided protection for ministers, for the royal family, and for foreign embassies, diplomats, and visiting dignitaries:
- Specialist Protection (SO1)
- Provided armed personal protection services for heads of governmentand other public figures. In April 2015, it was merged with Royalty Protection to form Royalty and Specialist Protection (RaSP).
- Royalty Protection (SO14)
- Provided protection for the Operational Command Unit (OCU) was divided into Residential Protection, Personal and Close Protection, and the Special Escort Group(SEG) that provided mobile protection. In April 2015, it was merged with Specialist Protection to form Royalty and Specialist Protection (RaSP).
- Diplomatic Protection Group(SO16)
- Provided protection for foreign missions in London, including protecting embassies and the residences of visiting heads of state, heads of government and ministers. In April 2015, it was merged with the Palace of Westminster Divisionto form Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection (PaDP).
Security Command
Until April 2015, the Security Command consisted of three units that provided protection for Parliament, for the two airports within Greater London (Heathrow Airport and London City Airport), and for major events in London.[12]
- Palace of Westminster Division(SO17)
- Was responsible for the protection of the Houses of Parliament and consisted of a team of 500 people.[13] Officers were unarmed. In April 2015, it was merged with the Diplomatic Protection Group to form Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection (PaDP).
- Aviation Security Operational Command Unit (SO18)
- Became Aviation Policing (SOAP).
- Counter Terrorism Protective Security Command (SO20)
- Remains unchanged.
Counter Terrorism Command
The Counter Terrorism Command (SO15) has remained unchanged.
Historical structure
Owing to continual restructuring of the Metropolitan Police, only a few of the original SO units still exist in their original form and still use the SO designation. Where the SO designation has been reassigned to another unit, the units are listed in order
- SO1 – Specialist Protection (now within the Protection Command)
- SO2 – Crime Support Branch/Department Support Group
- SO3 – Scenes of Crime Branch/Directorate of Forensic Services (now part of the Specialist Crime Directorate as SCD4 Forensic Services)
- SO4 – National Identification Service
- SO5 – Miscellaneous Force Indexes/Child Protection (now SCD5 Child Abuse Investigation Team)
- SO6 – Fraud Squad (now SCD6 Economic and Specialist Crime)
- SO7 – Serious and Organised Crime (renamed to Serious and Organised Crime Group, SCD7)
- SO8 – Forensic Science Laboratory
- SO9 – Flying Squad (now in SCD7, but retains same name and role)
- Covert Policing)
- SO11 – Criminal Intelligence Branch (renamed to Public Order Operational Command Unit, CO11)
- SO12 – Special Branch (merged with SO13 to create the Counter Terrorism Command)
- SO13 – Anti-Terrorism Branch (merged with SO12)
- SO14 – Royalty Protection Branch (now within the Protection Command)
- SO15 – Counter Terrorism Command
- SO16 – Diplomatic Protection Group(now within the Protection Command)
- SO17 – PNC Bureau (now the Police Information Technology Organisation)
- SO18 – Aviation Security/Airport Policing (now Aviation Securitywithin Security Command)
- Specialist Firearms Command, now within Met Operations)
- SO20 – Forensic Medical Examiners Branch
See also
References
- ^ "Home - The Met". content.met.police.uk. Archived from the original on 30 September 2018. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
- ^ "Metropolitan Police Service: Specialist Operations Branch (SO1): Records of the War Crimes Unit 1991-1999 (MEPO 41)". The National Archives. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
- ^ "Quarter 2, 2010–11 GLA Group Monitoring Report - Appendix 1" (PDF). Mayor of London. 3.70: London Assembly. 9 February 2011. p. 41. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
20 December 2010, 12 Terrorism Act arrest warrants were executed simultaneously in relation to Operation Guava, under the direction of ACSO
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: location (link) - ISBN 978-1317538059.
the Operation Guava group planned to establish a training camp in Kashmir on the grounds of a piece of property owned by one of the cell's members and to turn this into a location where British jihadists could go and train
- ^ Paul Hannon; Stephen Fidler (30 November 2019). "Attack by Convicted Terrorist Prompts U.K. to Review Sentencing". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
Mr. Khan was one of nine people who were imprisoned after pleading guilty to being part of a group that was plotting in 2010 to plant a pipe bomb in a toilet in the London Stock Exchange. The group, which had been tracked by Britain's internal security service MI5 in an operation code-named Guava
- ^ "Terrorism gang jailed for plotting to blow up London Stock Exchange". The Telegraph. 9 February 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
Usman Khan, 20, and Nazam Hussain, 26, were raising money to set up a terror training camp on land owned by Khan's family in Kashmir, Pakistan
- ^ Metropolitan Police Service. June 2018. Archived from the original(PDF) on 29 August 2018.
- ^ a b "Structure of Met Operations & Specialist Operations". Metropolitan Police Service. 4 December 2018. Freedom of Information Request 2018110000484. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
- ^ a b "Protection Command". Metropolitan Police Service. Archived from the original on 29 July 2016.
- ^ "Aviation Security". Metropolitan Police Service. Archived from the original on 27 June 2009.
- ^ a b "Counter Terrorism Command". Metropolitan Police Service. Archived from the original on 25 April 2016.
- ^ "Security Command". Metropolitan Police Service. Archived from the original on 12 June 2015. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
- ^ Harrison, Craig. "Protection Command". Eliteukforces.info. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
External links
- "Specialist Operations". Metropolitan Police Service. Archived from the original on 7 January 2012.