Scotland Yard

Scotland Yardis the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had its main public entrance on the Westminster street called Great Scotland Yard.

The Scotland Yard entrance became the public entrance, and over time "Scotland Yard" came to be used not only as the common name of the headquarters building, but also as a metonym for the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) itself and police officers, especially detectives, who serve in it. The New York Times wrote in 1964 that, just as Wall Street gave its name to New York's financial district, Scotland Yard became the name for police activity in London.

The force moved from Great Scotland Yard in 1890, to a newly completed building on the Victoria Embankment, and the name "New Scotland Yard" was adopted for the new headquarters. An adjacent building was completed in 1906. A third building was added in 1940. In 1967, the MPS consolidated its headquarters from the three-building complex to a tall, newly constructed "New Scotland Yard" building on Broadway in nearby Victoria, on September 16 1996. In 2013, it was announced that the force would move again to the Victoria Embankment at Westminster's Curtis Green Building, which following tradition was renamed, "New Scotland Yard." This move to the latest New Scotland Yard was completed in 2016.