Major Investigation Teams (MIT) are the specialised homicide squads of the

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Forming part of the

Homicide and Major Crime Command Homicide occurs when a person kills another person. A homicide requires only a volitional act or omission that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from accidental, reckless, or negligent acts even if there is no intent ...

, there are 24 MITs within the Met. MITs investigate cases of

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th cen ...

, attempted murder where the evidence of intended threat and other investigations identified for specialist needs. MITs were established in 2000 to replace the former

Area Major Incident Pool {{Unreferenced, date=December 2009 The Area Major Incident Pool (AMIP) is a defunct unit of Greater London's Metropolitan Police. From 1985 to 2000, the Area Major Incident Pool consisted of experienced detectives available to assist divisional, ...

s (AMIPs) as part of

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...

's Serious Crime Group. In 2001, there were 31 murder investigation teams operating in

, made up of 834 police officers, 182 civilian staff, and 14 senior detectives. Currently, all homicide investigation in

is undertaken by the Specialist Crime and Operations Directorate's Homicide Command, which is split geographically into six units (West, Central, East, Northwest and South), each led by a Detective Superintendent. Each of the Command Units has 4 Major Investigation Teams (MITs), consisting of 50 staff, led by a

Detective Chief Inspector Chief inspector (Ch Insp) is a rank used in police forces which follow the British model. In countries outside Britain, it is sometimes referred to as chief inspector of police (CIP). Usage by country Australia The rank of chief inspector is use ...

(DCI), who performs the role of senior investigating officer (SIO).

References

{{Metropolitan Police Metropolitan Police units Murder investigation