Increasing specialisation

• In the 20th century, police forces development many specialist departments and units to tackle specific types of crime.
• The first specially trained police dogs were Labradors and used in London in 1938. A specialist dog section was established within the Metropolitan Police in 1946; by now, most police forces have dog units. They are trained to sniff out drugs and explosives, and search for missing persons.
• The first specialist Fraud Squad was set up in London in 1946 to tackle crime in business and the stock market. It evolved to tackle other high-value crimes like art theft as well. Today it is known as the Specialist, Organised and Economic Crime Command.
• The Metropolitan Police Bomb Squad was set up in 1971 at a time when there was an increasing number of terrorist attacks by the IRA.
• In 2001, the National Hi-tech Crime Unit was set up to tackle online crime like hacking, credit card fraud and virus attacks.
• The National Crime Agency, set up in 2013, tackles drug trafficking into the UK, and large scale drug production within the UK. It uses intelligence on known criminal groups to stop drug hauls reaching the country from abroad, and to disrupt supply networks manufactured within the UK.
• Every police force has its own Special Branch to tackle threats to national security. They work with MI5, the security service, to detect and prevent terrorism.