About us

The Met occupies a unique position in the history of policing, and is today recognised as one of the finest police services in the world.

Our past

Formed on 29 September 1829 by Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel, the Met was London's first organised police service, charged with maintaining law and order in the rapidly expanding capital city.

At this point there were just 1,000 officers, policing a population of less than 2 million across a seven-mile radius around Charing Cross.

Our present and our future

Today, we are one of the largest police services in the world, responsible for policing a 21st century London that is more populous, dynamic and multicultural than ever before.

We employ around 48,000 Police Officers, Police Staff, Traffic Wardens, Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) and volunteers, who together form a wider policing family that looks after 7.2 million people, over an area of 620 square miles.

While London’s diverse mix of nationalities, faiths and cultures makes for an interesting and often exciting place to live and work, it also presents us with a unique – and uniquely rewarding – set of challenges.

We meet these challenges by continually learning, changing and improving – always looking for ways to ensure that we remain the kind of police service that London needs now, and into the future.

Our vision

Working together for a safer London.

Our values

We believe we are one team and that we all have a duty to play our part in making London safer.

Working together with all our citizens, all our partners, and our colleagues, we will:

• have pride in delivering quality policing. There is no greater priority.
• build trust by listening and responding.
• respect and support each other and work as a team.
• learn from experience and find ways to be even better.

Find out more about what we stand for by reading about our working culture or downloading our detailed values document in PDF format.

By making sure that we form an integral part of the communities we work for, reflecting their diversity, listening to their views and responding to their needs, we can make London a safer and better place to live.

To that end, we are committed to providing a working environment free from discrimination on the grounds of gender, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, disability, religion, sexual orientation or marital status.