page_title: Metropolitan Police Marine Policing Unit
section_title: Contemporary role
hierarchical_section_title: Metropolitan Police Marine Policing Unit / Contemporary role
caption_attribution_description: River Police at Speed
context_page_description: The Marine Policing Unit, formerly known as Thames Division, is a Met Operations branch of London's Metropolitan Police Service. Its forerunner, the Marine Police Force, was England's first recognised preventive police unit.
  The MPU is headquartered on Wapping High Street, in the east of the city, from where it operates a fleet of vessels responsible for policing the River Thames within Greater London.
context_section_description: Today the MPU is responsible for waterborne policing of the 47 miles of the Thames between Hampton Court in the west and Dartford Creek in the east. Above Hampton Court, Surrey Police have responsibility for policing but a launch is supplied by the Environment Agency. Below Dartford Creek, responsibility lies with both Essex Police and Kent Police, who have combined forces and formed a joint marine unit, with Kent based at Sheerness and Essex based at Burnham-on-Crouch.
  Based at a police station on Wapping High Street and with 22 vessels at its disposal, the MPU also provides support to the rest of the Metropolitan Police and to the City of London Police when dealing with incidents in or around any waterway in London. A specialist underwater and confined-spaces search team carries out searches throughout the Metropolitan Police District. The unit also has 24 officers who are trained in rope access techniques and trained to carry out searches and counter demonstrator operations at height.
caption: Nina MacKay II on the Thames in 2011
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