Metropolitan police
Blakelock was assigned on the night to Serial 502, a Metropolitan police unit consisting of a sergeant and 11 constables from Hornsey and Wood Green police stations. A "shield serial" was a unit equipped with shields, NATO helmets and a personnel carrier; expecting trouble, the Metropolitan Police had increased the deployment of these patrols across the capital. Serial 502 consisted of three Scots, three Londoners (including an officer originally from Jamaica), and officers from Cumbria, Gloucestershire, Merseyside, Sunderland, and Yorkshire.