Preservation of the public peace

Preservation of the public peace is the most important duty the police perform. However, this does not mean that preservation of the peace is necessarily synonymous with all other police duties.

Police departments maintain the public peace by pre­venting riots, mobs and other unlawful assemblages, and by ensuring to every citizen the rights guaranteed to him in the Constitution and in the laws of his state. These are the broad, general objectives intended in the term "the pres­ervation of the peace".

In a practical way, police officers preserve the peace by attending to the thousand and one little things that come to their attention each day. These range all the way from complaints about children, to violations of minor regula­tory measures. Differences between neighbours arise, too, and it frequently takes a Solomonlike arbiter to settle the questions satisfactorily.

Not one of the average officer’s problems is significant in itself but, taken together, they are sometimes sufficiently provocative to cause a serious breach of the peace.

The most important work done by the police in preserving quiet and good order, however, results simply from the police being in existence. People are reluctant to tamper with the law or to take advantage of their neighbours when they know that justice will be done. It is for this reason that police departments today strive to establish the reputation of in­vincibility, and to instill in the potential violator’s mind a conviction that he cannot get away with it.

This kind of public education by the police contributes more to law observance and general maintenance of the peace than anything else that is done.

The traffic police

The men and women in London’s Traffic Patrol, numbering over 800 and have responsibility for some 3 million licensed vehicles traveling on London’s 8.600 miles of road and motorway every day. These officers have three basic objectives: the prevention of accidents; the maintenance of traffic flow and relief of congestion; and the enforcement of the law.

The control of London’s traffic is always very much in the balance. Because the roads, despite many traffic management schemes and other improvements, were not built to cope with such volumes of traffic, the situation is always critical unless action is taken immediately.

The control and regulation of traffic is now one of the three main functions of police, thus in 1955 the Central Traffic Squad was formed. This squad had its own Traffic Control Room at Wellington Arch Police Station, the smallest police station in London located in the middle of Hyde Park Corner. From this original concept the whole of the present system of traffic control in London was evolved and the squad eventually became the Traffic Control of today.

London is divided into five Areas and, for traffic policing; each is under the control of a Superintendent. There are a total of nine police garages from which the Traffic Officers, recognizable by their white caps, operate with a fully equipped fleet of white cars (usually white Rover 827i) motorcycles, and SETACs (“Specially Equipped Traffic Accidents Cars”), which are usually Land Rovers and carry all the equipment needed to deal with a major accident.

All members of Traffic Patrol are volunteers, who are fully trained police officers and have chosen to specialize in work concerning traffic. They are very carefully selected as it is essential that they have a genuine aptitude for traffic patrol duties. The aim of every Traffic Officer is to become a ’”Triple Class I” – this means that he or she will be a Class I Driver and Motorcyclist and will also have attended the Traffic Patrol Course, qualifying him as an Accident Investigator and Vehicle Examiner.

Two innovations have made it considerably easier to keep London’s traffic moving. In 1960 the Traffic Warden Scheme was introduced to enforce parking regulations. Since then Wardens, who are civilians, have taken on other duties previously performed by police such as point duty and school crossing patrols.

The second innovation has been the increasing use of modern technology. Emergency telephones, traffic flow sensors and television cameras, helicopters and, of course, radio, all assist not only in surveillance but alert the Police Traffic Control Centres to any incident or accident, especially on motorways. Prompt action prevents a small incident or accident becoming more serious.

In 1968 the West London Traffic Experiment was introduced. Some 71 sets of traffic signals were linked to a computer at New Scotland Yard. The scheme was developed in conjunction with the Greater London Council who was then London’s Traffic Authority.

The Traffic Control radio room is part of the central communications complex at New Scotland Yard, where it is known as “Oscar” control – “Oscar” being the radio call sing identifying Traffic Patrol units. “Oscar” control is manned 24 hours a day by police officers and civilians from the communications branch, who operate three radio channels dedicated to traffic matters – information relating to accidents, traffic congestion, vehicles removed by police to car pounds, vehicles clamped, availability of breakdown vehicles from private garages.

Traffic Control has direct telephone lines to the Fire and Ambulance services as well as all the nearest Police Forces. A Traffic Information Bureau is operated where information is collected on the state of traffic in the capital.

Perhaps the most famous unit of motorcyclists in London is the Special Escort Group, which can be seen on state and ceremonial occasions. They are all Class I motorcyclists and their duties mainly consist of providing escorts for visiting Heads of State and members of the Royal Family for security reasons. Heads of State and members of the Royal Family for security reasons. From this Group the members of the famous Motor Cycle Precision Team gives impressive public display of controlled riding, weaving intricate patterns, many of which have been devised by the Team. The sheer skill of these officers when executing these maneuvers on their powerful machines has been acknowledged by motorcyclists worldwide.

Accident Investigation Units operate on each traffic division. They consist of Traffic Patrol officers highly skilled in the scientific methods of reconstructing accidents, to ascertain the true cause and presenting their findings to Courts when appropriate. The police play an important role in the planning of future roads and traffic management schemes and there are officers on Areas whose job it is to liaise with Engineers in the many local authorities within the Metropolitan Police District.