page_title: Metropolitan Police
section_title: Stations
hierarchical_section_title: Metropolitan Police / Resources / Stations
caption_attribution_description: English: A photo of a traditional "blue lamp" as located outside most English police stations. This one is outside the Charing Cross Police Station of the Metropolitan Police in London. The building in the background is Agar House, 12 Agar Street, Covent Garden, London WC2N 4HN.
context_page_description: The Metropolitan Police Service, formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police and informally as the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard, is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement in the Metropolitan Police District, which currently consists of the 32 London boroughs. The MPD does not include the "square mile" of the City of London, which is policed by the much smaller City of London Police.
  The Met also has significant national responsibilities, such as co-ordinating and leading on UK-wide national counter-terrorism matters and protecting the Royal Family, certain members of Her Majesty's Government and others as deemed appropriate. As the police force for the capital, the Met has significant unique responsibilities and challenges within its police area, such as protecting 164 foreign embassies and High Commissions, policing Heathrow Airport, policing and protecting the Palace of Westminster, and dealing with significantly more protests and events than any other force in the country.
  As of September 2019, the Met had 41,399 full-time personnel.
context_section_description: In addition to the headquarters at New Scotland Yard, there are many police stations in London. These range from large borough headquarters staffed around the clock every day to smaller stations, which may be open to the public only during normal business hours, or on certain days of the week. In 2017, there were 73 working front counters open to the public in London.
  Most police stations can easily be identified from one or more blue lamps located outside the entrance, which were introduced in 1861.
  The oldest Metropolitan police station, which opened in Bow Street in 1881, closed in 1992 and the adjoining Bow Street Magistrates' Court heard its last case on 14 July 2006. The oldest operational police station in London is in Wapping, which opened in 1908. It is the headquarters of the marine policing unit (formerly known as Thames Division), which is responsible for policing the River Thames. It also houses a mortuary and the River Police Museum.
  Paddington Green Police Station, which is no longer operational, received much publicity for its housing of terrorism suspects in an underground complex prior to its closure in 2017.
  In 2004, there was a call from the Institute for Public Policy Research for more imaginative planning of police stations to aid in improving relations between police forces and the wider community.
caption: A traditional blue lamp as seen outside most police stations. This one is outside Charing Cross police station.
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