Structure of Policing in London
- Organisational structure of the Met
- Territorial Policing: London's local police
- Specialist Crime and Operations Directorate
- Specialist Operations
- Administration and support
- Other London police forces
- The Met's rank structure
- Police staff
The organisational structure of The Met
The Metropolitan Police Service is a large organisation with a complex command structure that reflects the diverse range of tasks it is expected to undertake. This page attempts to give a brief introduction to the main elements of The Met together with links that will take you to more detailed information.
- More about the Commissioner and the Management Board
- Metropolitan Police Service organisational chart - June 2013 [
PDF- 503 kb]
Territorial Policing: London's local police
Following a recent restructuring, most of the day-to-day policing of London is the responsibility of 33 borough operational command units (BOCUs). You can find out more about these units in the section on local policing.
Specialist Crime and Operations Directorate
In addition to policing London's streets, the Met has various specialist units dedicated to reducing all aspects of serious and specialist crime.
The intention of Specialist Crime Directorate is to place a renewed emphasis on working collaboratively with communities, boroughs and partners to identify effective solutions to serious crime problems. We are dedicated to providing a highly skilled and professional service to Londoners and visitors to London.
Specialist Operations
The Met has various specialist units that work across the capital or which fulfill a national role.
A number of these are grouped into a section of the organisation known as Specialist Operations.They deal with tasks such as intelligence, security, protection of politicians, embassies and royalty, and the investigation of certain categories of serious crimes, including racial and violent crime and terrorism.
Support
An organisation the size of the Metropolitan Police Service could not function without various management, administration and support functions. For this reason The Met has thousands of staff, including police officers as well as civilians, who work behind the scenes to ensure that the front line units can do their job. Their functions include recruitment, training, personnel management, provision of information technology, publicity and communications. Some functions, such as vehicle maintenance and aspects of information technology and telecommunications, have been contracted out to the private sector.
Other London police forces
The Met works in conjunction with neighbouring forces but has particularly close relationships with the other forces that police in London:
- The British Transport Police, who are responsible for policing on the rail and tube systems;
- The City of London Police, who cover the area within the boundaries of the Corporation of London;
In addition, The Met works in conjunction with the other emergency services. The following links provide information on some of those services:
Rank
The rank structure of Metropolitan Police officers is as follows:
- Commissioner
- Deputy Commissioner
- Assistant Commissioner
- Deputy Assistant Commissioner
- Commander
- Chief Superintendent
- Superintendent
- Chief Inspector
- Inspector
- Sergeant
- Constable
The prefix detective; is given to officers who have been assigned to investigative work after completing the appropriate selection and training. Detective ranks parallel uniformed ranks and range from Detective Constable to Detective Chief Superintendent.
Police staff
The Met's Police staff has a structure similar to that for civil servants working in government departments. However numbered grades, which would be familiar to civil servants, have recently been replaced by a more flexible system based on pay bands and specific job descriptions.