The Special Patrol Group (SPG) was a unit of
Greater London's
Metropolitan Police Service, responsible for providing a centrally based mobile capacity to combat serious public disorder, crime, and terrorism, that could not be dealt with by local
divisions.
The SPG was active from 1961 to 12 January 1987. It was replaced by the
Territorial Support Group
The Territorial Support Group (TSG) is a Met Operations unit of London's Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) which specialises in public order policing, amongst other specialist areas. In 2012 it consisted of 793 officers and 29 support staff. Th ...
(TSG), three times the size of the SPG.
History
The SPG recruited experienced
police officer
A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...
s capable of working as disciplined teams, either in
uniform
A uniform is a variety of clothing worn by members of an organization while participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are most often worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency services, ...
or in plain clothes preventing
public disorder
Public security or public safety is the prevention of and protection from events that could endanger the safety and security of the public from significant Risk, danger, injury, or property damage. It is often conducted by a State (polity), state ...
, targeting areas of serious crime, carrying out
stop and searches, and providing a response to
terrorist
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
threats. It also conducted its own surveillance and was tasked with reducing burglaries. It had a dedicated radio channel and a fleet of vans to allow it to work independently of routine divisions.
The SPG originally consisted of four units based throughout London. This was increased to six and finally to eight. Each unit comprised an
inspector, three
sergeants
Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...
, and thirty
constables
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...
.
Its position within the Metropolitan Police was unusual: whereas the
Flying Squad
The Flying Squad is a branch of the Serious and Organised Crime Command within London's Metropolitan Police Service. It is also known as the Robbery Squad, Specialist Crime Directorate 7, SC&O7 and SO7. It is nicknamed The Sweeney, an abbreviat ...
became the symbol of the
Criminal Investigation Department
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is the branch of a police force to which most plainclothes detectives belong in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth nations. A force's CID is distinct from its Special Branch (though officers of b ...
in London, the SPG became recognised as a unit that efficient uniformed officers could aspire to join. As such it had an exceptionally high level of ''
esprit de corps''.
Other police forces outside London created their own versions of the Special Patrol Group. The Greater Manchester Police created the Tactical Aid Group (TAG) in 1977. The Merseyside Police formed the Task Force in 1974, which was disbanded in 1978 and replaced with the Operational Support Division (OSD). There was also a
Special Patrol Group in Northern Ireland.
Death of Blair Peach
One of the SPG's most controversial incidents came in 1979, while officers were policing a protest by the
Anti-Nazi League
The Anti-Nazi League (ANL) was an organisation set up in 1977 on the initiative of the Socialist Workers Party with sponsorship from some trade unions and the endorsement of a list of prominent people to oppose the rise of far-right groups i ...
in
Southall
Southall () is a large suburban county of West London, England, part of the London Borough of Ealing and is one of its seven major towns. It is situated west of Charing Cross and had a population of 69,857 as of 2011. It is generally divided ...
. During a running battle, demonstrator
Blair Peach
Clement Blair Peach (25 March 1946 – 24 April 1979) was a New Zealand teacher who was killed during an anti-racism demonstration in Southall, London, England. A campaigner and activist against the far right, in April 1979 Peach took part in a ...
was struck on the head, which caused his death; at the time it was alleged to have been an action of the SPG. In the inquiries that followed, unauthorised weapons were found in lockers kept as souvenirs by SPG officers at one of their bases after the weapons were seized; these included
baseball bat
A baseball bat is a smooth wooden or metal club used in the sport of baseball to hit the ball after it is thrown by the pitcher. By regulation it may be no more than in diameter at the thickest part and no more than in length. Although histor ...
s,
crowbars, and
sledgehammers.
No SPG officer was ever charged with the attack. An internal report was leaked, which stated that the Metropolitan Police settled with Peach's family out of court. The original Metropolitan police report, eventually officially published on 27 April 2010, concluded that the fatal blow that killed the anti-racism activist was probably made by a police officer. It is thought that "Peach's skull was crushed with an unauthorised weapon, such as a lead-weighted cosh or police radio"
[Paul Lewi]
"Blair Peach killed by police at 1979 protest, Met report finds"
theguardian.com, 27 April 2010 The internal report also concluded that some officers had conspired to cover up the circumstances of the special-needs teacher's death.
Popular culture
Nick Lowe referred to them in his record 'Half a boy and half a man'.
'Special Patrol Group' was the name of Vyvyan Basterd's pet
hamster
Hamsters are rodents (order Rodentia) belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae, which contains 19 species classified in seven genera.Fox, Sue. 2006. ''Hamsters''. T.F.H. Publications Inc. They have become established as popular small pets. The ...
in the 1980s
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, featured a parody of the SPG in the form of the "Special Borribles Group", or SBG, led by the book's villain, the fictional Inspector Sussworth.
UK Punk/Oi Bands
" to Blair Peach. The refrain goes like this: "The SPG them are murderers (murderers) / We can't make them get no furtherer"
Constable Savage is transferred to the SPG in the ''
'' Racist Police sketch.
The punk band The Professionals (members include ex-Sex Pistols Steve Jones and Paul Cook) refer to 'Special Patrol, Licence to kill' in early versions of their song 'Little Boys in Blue'