The Royal Parks Constabulary (RPC) was the

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

force formerly responsible for the

Royal Parks The Royal Parks of London are lands that were originally used for the recreation, mostly hunting, of the royal family. They are part of the hereditary possessions of The Crown, now managed by The Royal Parks Limited, a charity which manages ...

in London and a number of other locations in

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality *Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record *Greater (song), "Greate ...

, England and

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. Unlike most other police forces operating in

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...

, the Royal Parks Constabulary did not report to the Home Office, but instead to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, who provided funding for it through the

Royal Parks Agency The Royal Parks of London are lands that were originally used for the recreation, mostly hunting, of the royal family. They are part of the hereditary possessions of The Crown, now managed by The Royal Parks Limited, a charity which manages ...

. The force was created in 1872 as the Royal Parks Keepers; keepers were given full police powers within the parks. They were renamed the Royal Parks Constabulary in 1974. Before 1872,

Hyde Park Hyde Park may refer to: Places England * Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London * Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds * Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield * Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester Austra ...

had its own constables who lived in some of the entrance lodges and worked out of the rooms inside Marble Arch. One of the last Inspectors of those constables was Samuel Parkes, who won the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

in the

Charge of the Light Brigade The Charge of the Light Brigade was a failed military action involving the British light cavalry led by Lord Cardigan against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854 in the Crimean War. Lord Raglan had intended to se ...

in 1854. The constabulary worked towards maintaining the standards of Home Office police forces and all constables were trained at regional training centres, alongside their Home Office colleagues. Unlike council-run parks constabularies, constables of the RPC enjoyed full police powers in the parks under their control and had the power to instigate criminal proceedings for offences committed in the Royal Parks. The force did not originally police Hyde Park. Instead, because of the potential for trouble at Speaker's Corner, Hyde Park was policed by 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 ...

from 1867 until 1993. At the beginning of 1993 the policing of Hyde Park was handed over to the Royal Parks Constabulary. On 1 April 2004, following a review of the Royal Parks Constabulary by Anthony Speed, the Royal Parks Operational Command Unit of the

took on the responsibility of policing the Royal Parks in Greater London. The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 formally abolished the Royal Parks Constabulary in England. In Scotland, the powers were transferred to Historic Scotland (with security in Holyrood Park being provided by Historic Scotland's own Ranger Service and aided by Lothian and Borders Police). Many of the London-based officers from the Royal Parks Constabulary transferred into the new Metropolitan Police Royal Parks Operational Command Unit (OCU) — the new OCU is funded in the same way, through the Royal Parks Agency, with its funding "ring-fenced" to prevent it being diverted to other Metropolitan Police areas and many others transferred into British Transport Police, as within London, Royal Parks Constabulary paid to share a control room (and subsequent radio channels), crime recording systems and human resources functions with BTP. The Royal Parks Constabulary's white vehicles originally had orange decals; these were later replaced with yellow decals.

References

External links

Metropolitan Police, Royal Parks OCUHistoric Scotland (RPC) Flickr: Royal Parks Constabulary
{{Authority control Government agencies established in 1872 Local government in London Defunct park police forces of the United Kingdom * Organisations based in London with royal patronage Organisations based in Edinburgh Organisations based in Edinburgh with royal patronage Social history of London 1872 establishments in the United Kingdom