A brief history of Scotland Yard

The name (Metropolitan Police) means that on a foggy street in London, a police detective in a trench coat is patrolling, blowing smoke from his pipe. But the history of the Metropolitan Police is prone to confusion, filled with misnomers and controversy. Neither in Scotland nor in a yard is it the name of London's Metropolitan Police headquarters and, by association, has become synonymous with the police. The yard also does not serve the city, but Greater London. With all this confusion in mind, it's time to investigate the story of Scotland Yard and some of its most notorious cases, from Jack the Ripper to the 2005 London bombings, Related Content Sherlock Holmes's London

Making the Police Force

The London Police Force was created in 1829 by an act in Parliament introduced by Sir Robert Peel, the British Home Secretary (similar to the US Home Secretary), hence the policeman's nickname "Bobby". The new police replaced the old guard system. By 1839 these men had replaced the Bow Street Patrol, which enforced the decisions of the justices of the peace, and the River Police, which prevented crime along the Thames.

Responsibility for organizing the new police force was given to Colonel Charles Rowan and Richard Mayne, who occupied a private house at 4 Whitehall Square at the rear with a courtyard: a large Scotland Yard. The courtyard takes its name from its site, a medieval palace where the Scottish royal family stayed when they visited London.

Scotland Yard staff are responsible for the protection of key individuals, community patrols, public affairs, recruitment and personnel management. In 1842, when the first plainclothes police were deployed in the yard, the public was unforgiving of these "spies" on the streets. But the force's role in several important cases, as well as the charisma of many of its detectives, helped it win the trust of the people.

One such man, Charles Frederick Field, joined the force when it was founded in 1829. He became good friends with Charles Dickens, who occasionally slept with the police on their night patrols. Dickens wrote a short essay about Field, "On Duty with Inspector Field," and used him as a model for the all-knowing, charismatic Inspector Barker in his novel "Bleak House." Field retired in 1852 and became head of the detective department. In 1877, four of the five heads of the detective department were tried for conspiring with criminals in a gambling scheme. In an effort to repair the unit's reputation, Howard Vincent proposed a reorganization plan to the unit. Soon Vincent was appointed Director of Criminal Investigations, where he reorganized the Metropolitan Police and strengthened its central departments. Thus, the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, a respected undercover police detective unit, was born.

Bloodstains

At the turn of the century, many significant events occurred at Scotland Yard. Britain's "Bloody Sunday" occurred on November 13, 1887, when 2,000 police disrupted a meeting organized by the Social Democratic Union in Trafalgar Square, causing more than 100 casualties. After a few years the unit moved to a new building on Victoria Embankment. The place was called New Scotland Yard.

It was also during this time that one of Scotland Yard's most durable detectives, Frederick Porter Wensley (aka "The Weasel"), began his 40-year career work. Wensley joined the force in 1888 and his career was highlighted by a number of landmark cases, including the murder of 32-year-old French woman Emilienne Gerard, also known as For the "Blodie Belgium" case. On the morning of November 2, 1917, street sweepers discovered Gerard's torso and a note that read "Blodie Belgium". Wensley questioned Gerard's lover, Louis Worthing, asking him to write the note "Bloody Belgium". Worthing made the same spelling mistake and sealed his crime.

Early in Wensley's career, he worked on the infamous Jack the Ripper case in London's East End. Jack R. Ipper was a self-proclaimed alias for a serial killer responsible for five murders between 1888 and 1891. Officers from Scotland Yard were sent to arrest the suspect, who was responsible for 11 attacks on police in the impoverished Whitechapel area. Police established a pattern of killers willing to pay for sex, luring women away and slitting their throats, but finding the culprits was difficult.

Without modern forensic technology, Scotland Yard's police officer, Inspector Frederick Aberlin, relied on body measurements or identifying criminals by certain facial features, such as eyebrow thickness or jaw shape. More than 160 people have been charged with the Whitechap murders, ranging from "Alice in Wonderland" author Lewis Carroll to painter William Richard Sickert. The force received many letters from people claiming to be the murderers; two in particular provided detailed facts and were signed "Jack the Ripper." However, in 1892, with no further clues or murders, the Jack the Ripper case was officially closed.

Yard Today

Since its inception, Scotland Yard has had a place in popular culture. These officers often appear in the context of mystery stories, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. On television and in magazines today, Scotland Yard's "Bobby" can be seen standing stoically behind the royal family and other dignitaries assigned to protect them.

In 1967, the unit moved again to its current location, a 20-story modern building close to the Parliament Buildings. The Bureau of Criminal Investigation is known for its investigative methods, primarily its fingerprinting technology, which the FBI borrowed. Today, Scotland Yard has approximately 30,000 police officers patrolling 620 square miles of land occupied by 7.2 million citizens.

Scotland Yard's reputation is as much at stake now as it was 130 years ago. On July 22, 2005, during the investigation of the 2005 London bombings, the police mistakenly believed that Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes was a suicide bomber and fatally shot him. Menezes, who lived in an apartment under police surveillance, was wearing bulky clothing that day and, according to police, resembled an Ethiopian suspect later arrested in connection with the bombing. Earlier this month, members of the Metropolitan Police, the Metropolitan Police's watchdog, condemned Chief Constable Ian Blair for "not knowing where the truth lies". The messenger has repeatedly stated that he will not resign over the murder.

Correction attached 2 October 2007: This article was originally addressed to the British Home Secretary and the US Secretary of Defense. This should be the Minister of the Interior