page_title: City of London
section_title: Police and security
hierarchical_section_title: City of London / Public services / Police and security
caption_attribution_description: English: City of London Police Blackfriars Bridge.
context_page_description: The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and the primary central business district of London. It constituted most of London from its settlement by the Romans in the 1st century AD to the Middle Ages, but the modern city named London has since grown far beyond the formal City of London borders. The City is now only a tiny part of the metropolis of London, though it remains a notable part of central London. Administratively, it forms one of the 33 local authority districts of London; however, the City of London is not a London borough, a status reserved for the other 32 districts. It is also a separate ceremonial county, being an enclave surrounded by Greater London, and is the smallest county in the United Kingdom.
  The City of London is widely referred to simply as the City and is also colloquially known as the Square Mile, as it is 1.12 sq mi in area. Both of these terms are also often used as metonyms for the United Kingdom's trading and financial services industries, which continue a notable history of being largely based in the City.
context_section_description: The City is a police area and has its own police force, the City of London Police, separate from the Metropolitan Police Service covering the majority of Greater London. The City Police have three police stations, at Snow Hill, Wood Street and Bishopsgate, and an administrative headquarters at Guildhall Yard East. The force comprises 735 police officers including 273 detectives. It is the smallest territorial police force in England and Wales, in both geographic area and the number of police officers.
  Where the majority of British police forces have silver-coloured badges, those of the City of London Police are black and gold featuring the City crest. The force has rare red and white chequered cap bands and unique red and white striped duty arm bands on the sleeves of the tunics of constables and sergeants (red and white being the colours of the City), which in most other British police forces are black and white. City police sergeants and constables wear crested custodian helmets whilst on foot patrol. These helmets do not feature either St Edward's Crown or the Brunswick Star, which are used on most other police helmets in England and Wales.
  The City's position as the United Kingdom's financial centre and a critical part of the country's economy, contributing about 2.5% of the UK's gross national product, has resulted in it becoming a target for political violence. The Provisional IRA exploded several bombs in the early 1990s, including the 1993 Bishopsgate bombing.
  The area is also spoken of as a possible target for al-Qaeda. For instance, when in May 2004 the BBC's Panorama programme examined the preparedness of Britain's emergency services for a terrorist attack on the scale of the September 11, 2001 attacks, they simulated a chemical explosion on Bishopsgate in the east of the City. The "Ring of Steel" was established in the wake of the IRA bombings to guard against terrorist threats.
caption: A City of London Police vehicle on Blackfriars Bridge
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON 1 J5", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Ver.1.00", "Image DateTime": "2017:09:17 11:52:01", "Image ExifOffset": "210", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 3, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "668", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/400", "EXIF FNumber": "9/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Unidentified", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "160", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2017:09:17 11:52:01", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2017:09:17 11:52:01", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "18/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "10", "EXIF SubSecTime": "36", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "36", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "36", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[2, 0, 2, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "27", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Landscape", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}