The use of technology in policing the City of London

Since the detonation of two vehicle borne bombs by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) in 1992 and 1993 the City of London Police have been actively engaged in a variety of initiatives to protect life and property. A greater uniformed police presence at street level in support of the anti-terrorism strategy and in particular at the eight entry points created by the introduction of the Traffic Management Zone has proved extremely successful. A simple measurement of this success can be seen in the reduction of recorded crime by just under 30% between 1993 and 1997 with incidents of serious assault and public disorder remaining very low. A prime example of using technology to assist the police is that of closed circuit television (CCTV). The City of London Police have installed a force wide network providing visual coverage of all the main traffic routes within the Force boundary. This centrally monitored system has the capability to be linked with the Metropolitan Police CCTV system allowing information to be passed between both Forces during cross-border incidents