Landmarks include: Criminal Investigation Department detective branch of the London Metropolitan Police (New Scotland Yard) (established in 1878), recruited from the uniformed branch (such departments now exist in all UK forces); women police (1919); motorcycle patrols (1921); two-way radio cars (1927); personal radio on the beat (1965); and Special Patrol Groups (SPG) (1970), squads of experienced officers concentrating on a specific problem (New York has the similar Tactical Patrol Force). Unlike most other police forces, the British are armed only on special occasions, but arms issues grow more frequent. In 1997 the London Metropolitan Police Force had about 27,000 officers, one for every 255 citizens.

In the UK, police expenditure increased by 55% in real terms in the period 1979-90. The police had an annual budget of £6.5 billion and a staff of 127,000 in 1995. However, by 2001 the number of police officers had fallen to a 10-year-low, 2,500 having left over the previous five years. For 2001-02, the police grant for England and Wales was £ 3,995,109,000. London's Metropolitan Police Authority received an extra sum of £191,000,000, and a further sum of £2,250,000 was granted to cover boundary changes (between the Metropolitan Police Authority and Essex, Hertfordshire, and Surrey in 2000)

In 1991, the police force claimed to clear up 26% of all recorded crimes, although this is estimated to be only 7% of the total committed. By 2001 the police detection rate for all recorded crimes had fallen to 24%, with a 12% clear up rate for burglaries, a 55% detection rate for violent crimes, and a 90% detection rate for murders (the figures exclude secondary clear ups, such as further offences admitted by those serving sentences). The number of recorded offences for the year 2000-01 was 5.2 million, a fall of 2.5% over the previous year. Recorded robberies rose by 13%, a significant number being mobile phone thefts, which accounted for up to 40% of all robberies in some urban areas. London's Metropolitan police force recorded the highest number of robberies in the UK, with 5.6 robberies per 1,000 residents; Central Newcastle had the highest number of violent offences - 236.5 for every 1,000 residents. In 2001 the government announced a target of 130,000 police officers by 2003 to reverse the rise in crime, although the Police Federation said that it needed a force of 140,000.

The 3 million criminal records held by the British police on microfiche were entered on a national computer system called Phoenix in 1994.

Other police forces include the Garda Síochána in the Republic of Ireland, the Carabinieri in Italy, the Guardia Civil in Spain, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (‘Mounties’) in Canada, the Police Nationale (under the Ministry of the Interior) for the cities and the Gendarmerie (part of the army) elsewhere in France.

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Police Services of the UK