Royalty and Diplomatic Protection Department

The Royalty and Diplomatic Protection Department (RDPD) is a Specialist Operations branch of London's Metropolitan Police Service. The department has three branches, each specialising in a form of security. Although the department's responsibilities are broad, the most common is the protection of official premises such as Buckingham Palace and Westminster Palace, as well as protecting government officials.

The department currently maintains three branches:

* Diplomatic Protection Group (SO16)
* Palace of Westminster Division (SO17)
* Special Escort Group

Unlike in some other countries, in the United Kingdom protection of government officials and affiliated premises is the responsibility of the police, not of the armed forces. While operationally deployed to guarding positions, officers are armed.

History of the RDPD

Protection of royal and diplomatic buildings in London was originally the responsibility of the Royalty Protection Division which was created in 1982, which was absorbed into the Royalty Protection Squad which had been created in the late 1970s. Previously, policing of Buckingham Palace fell under the responsibility of the police of the borough that the palace was geographically located in. In the early 1980s the officers responsible for the guarding of other royal residences in London, such as Kensington Palace, St James's Palace and Clarence House, and police responsible for Windsor Castle, were absorbed, along with the Royalty Protection Squad.

The head of this part of the department is the Queen's Police Officer, the senior Personal Protection Officer to the Prince of Wales, who holds the rank of Superintendent. The Royalty Protection Squad, part of "A" Division, is based at Cannon Row police station under the Queen's Police Officer. It is responsible for the protection of the Queen while in residence at Buckingham Palace, and all times while outside the Palace.

The Queen's Police Officer also supervises the personal protection of all members of the Royal Family, despite Royalty Protection Officers not falling under the remit of the squad. The Queen's Police Officer is also responsible for security of the interior of the Palace, and its grounds.

The Royalty and Diplomatic Protection Department, as it is known today, was formed on September 1, 1983 as a result of the merging of the Royalty Protection Department and the Diplomatic Protection Group (DPG). Initially in A Department, since 1985 it has been in the Specialist Operations (SO) designation. It was organised into the Royalty Protection Division (SO14), Royal Palaces Division (SO15), and Diplomatic Protection Group (SO16). In 1991 it assumed responsibility for the security of the Palace of Westminster, where Parliament sits.

This is now policed by the Palace of Westminster Division (SO17). SO15 merged with SO14 in 1995, and the Department is now divided into SO16 responsible for static armed protection and for armed personal protection in the form of bodyguarding, and the Special Escort Group (SEG), along with the Palace of Wesminster Division who police the Westminster Palace.

Department heads

Department head since March 2007 has been Deputy Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick, whose promotion was surrounded by controversy over the events of the shooting of Jean Charles De Menzes.

The current head of the Royalty and Diplomatic Protection Department (since 2003) is Commander Peter Loughborough, the Earl of Rosslyn, the only peer in the United Kingdom who is a serving policeman.

Chief Superintendent Stephen Grainger currently heads Royalty Protection (SO14). His predecessor was James Beaton, GC CVO, who held office from 1983 to 1992. Beaton received the George Cross for protecting Princess Anne during a kidnapping attempt in 1974. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/20/newsid_2524000/2524489.stm]

Holyrood Palace and Balmoral Castle in Scotland are the responsibility of the Department when the royals are in residence, and the Department also liaises closely with the Chief Constables responsible for security of royal residences outside London.

Vehicle fleet and equipment

The most used and perhaps best known vehicles of the department are BMW 530iDs. They are painted red, to signify they do not carry out routine policing work. The motorcycle fleet consists of MPS Traffic Officers who are seconded to the department when needed for escort duties, riding Honda ST2000s.

Because front line officers guard high risk premises and people, they are routinely armed with a variety of weapons, including the German Heckler & Koch MP5 (semi-automatic carbine), Austrian Glock 17 (pistol), American XP26 Taser (electroshock weapon) and the Heckler & Koch 69 (riot gun) which fires rubber bullets.

Earlier royal and diplomatic protection

The Queen's Police Officer is the descendant of the police first appointed for royal security in 1792 when the Bow Street Runners detective force was appointed by the Magistrates of Bow Street court, and was assigned to provide plain-clothes protection. In 1838 the Bow Street Runners were replaced by the newly created Metropolitan Police headed by an Inspector of Police. Special Branch took over some aspects of the role in 1883 but was largely superseded before the Second World War.

The Public Order Branch (A8) was formerly also responsible for royal security, particularly during ceremonial events, as was the Special Patrol Group (A9).

Department heads

*Commander Peter Loughborough, the Earl of Rosslyn 2003-
*Deputy Assistant Commissioner Alan Fry, QPM 1995-
*Deputy Assistant Commissioner David Meynell, CVO OBE 1992-1995
*Deputy Assistant Commissioner Charles Rideout, CVO QPM 1990-1992
*Deputy Assistant Commissioner John Cracknell, CVO QPM 1984-1990
*Deputy Assistant Commissioner Colin Smith, CVO CBE QPM 1983-1984

External links

* [http://www.met.police.uk/so/protection.htm Protection Command]
* [http://www.closeprotectionworld.co.uk Close Protection]
* [http://www.securityresources.co.uk Close Protection Directory]