London

===Policing and crime===
{{main|Crime in London}}
Policing in Greater London, with the exception of the [[City of London]], is provided by the [[Metropolitan Police]] ("The Met"), overseen by the mayor through the [[Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime]] (MOPAC).<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://policeauthority.org/Metropolitan/ |title=MPA: Metropolitan Police Authority |publisher=Metropolitan Police Authority |date=22 May 2012 |access-date=4 May 2013}}</ref> The Met is also referred to as [[Scotland Yard]] after the location of its original headquarters in a road called [[Great Scotland Yard]] in Whitehall. The City of London has its own police force&nbsp;– the [[City of London Police]].<ref name="Policing">{{Cite web |url=http://www.london.gov.uk/gla/policing.jsp |title=Policing |publisher=Greater London Authority |access-date=25 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080121173357/http://www.london.gov.uk/gla/policing.jsp |archive-date=21 January 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> First worn by Met police officers in 1863, the [[custodian helmet]] has been called a "cultural icon" and a "symbol of British law enforcement".<ref>{{cite news |title=Just how practical is a traditional Bobby's helmet? |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-30932319 |access-date=11 April 2023 |agency=BBC}}</ref> Introduced by the Met in 1929, the blue [[Police box|police telephone box]] (basis for the [[TARDIS]] in ''[[Doctor Who]]'') was once a common sight throughout London and regional cities in the UK.<ref>{{cite news |title=Police lose fight to ground Tardis |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2002/oct/23/bbc.broadcasting1 |access-date=15 April 2023 |work=The Guardian}}</ref>

[[File:SIS building (26327425611).jpg|thumbnail|upright=1.1|right|Headquarters of [[MI6]], the UK's foreign intelligence service, at the [[SIS Building]]. Scenes featuring [[James Bond]] (the fictional MI6 agent) have been filmed here.]]
The [[British Transport Police]] are responsible for police services on [[National Rail]], [[London Underground]], [[Docklands Light Railway]] and [[Tramlink]] services.<ref name="BTP">{{Cite web |year=2021 |title=About Us |url=https://www.btp.police.uk/police-forces/british-transport-police/areas/about-us/about-us/ |access-date=28 March 2021 |website=[[British Transport Police]]}}</ref>
The [[Ministry of Defence Police]] is a special police force in London, which does not generally become involved with policing the general public.<ref>{{Cite web |year=2017 |title=Ministry of Defence – Our Purpose |url=http://www.mod.police.uk/index.html |access-date=28 March 2021 |website=[[Ministry of Defence Police]] |archive-date=6 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506183729/http://www.mod.police.uk/index.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> The UK's domestic counter-intelligence service ([[MI5]]) is headquartered in [[Thames House]] on the north bank of the River Thames, and the foreign intelligence service ([[MI6]]) is headquartered in the [[SIS Building]] on the south bank.<ref>{{cite book|last=Andrew|first=Christopher|title=The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5|page=[https://archive.org/details/defenceofrealmau0000andr/page/134 134]|publisher=Allen Lane|year=2009|isbn=978-0-713-99885-6|url=https://archive.org/details/defenceofrealmau0000andr/page/134}}</ref>

Crime rates vary widely across different areas of London. Crime figures are made available nationally at [[Local authority#England|Local Authority]] and [[Ward (England)|Ward]] level.<ref>{{Cite web |date=12 March 2021 |title=Recorded Crime: Geographic Breakdown – Metropolitan Police Service |url=https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/recorded_crime_summary |access-date=28 March 2021 |website=[[Greater London Authority]] |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2015, there were 118 homicides, a 25.5% increase over 2014.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.itv.com/news/london/2016-01-24/london-murder-rate-up-14-over-the-past-year/ |title=London murder rate up 14% over the past year |publisher=ITV News |date=24 January 2016 |access-date=16 February 2016}}</ref>
Recorded crime has been rising in London, notably violent crime and murder by stabbing and other means have risen. There were 50 murders from the start of 2018 to mid April 2018. Funding cuts to police in London are likely to have contributed to this, though other factors are involved.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Crerar |first1=Pippa |last2=Gayle |first2=Damien |date=10 April 2018 |title=Sadiq Khan Holds City Hall Summit on How To Tackle Violent Crime |url=http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/apr/10/sadiq-khan-holds-city-hall-summit-on-how-to-tackle-violent |access-date=25 March 2021 |work=The Guardian}}</ref> However, homicide figures fell in 2022 with 109 recorded for the year, and the murder rate in London is much lower than [[List of cities by homicide rate|other major cities]] around the world.<ref>{{cite news |title=Met Police: London homicide figures fall in 2022 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-64183759 |access-date=5 January 2024 |publisher=BBC}}</ref>