{{Short description|Group of eighteen specialist Metropolitan Police units}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{More citations needed|date=March 2026}}
'''Territorial Operations''' was a group of eighteen specialist Metropolitan Police units which were set up in 1986 as part of Sir [[Kenneth Newman]]'s restructuring of the [[Metropolitan Police Service]]. The Territorial Operations units were designed to support the Metropolitan Police areas and divisions.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Fido |first=Martin |url=http://archive.org/details/officialencyclop0000fido |title=The Official Encyclopedia of Scotland Yard |last2=Skinner |first2=Keith |date=1999 |publisher=Virgin Books |others= |isbn=978-1-85227-712-3 |location=London |pages=260 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> While area-based policing was designed to decentralise the operations of [[New Scotland Yard]], the TO units were intended to provide central operational and logistic support to Areas and divisional OCUs ([[Operational Command Unit]]s).
==TO designations== The Territorial Operations groups were disbanded in 1995 due to restructuring of the Metropolitan Police.<ref name=":0" /> The current term 'Territorial Policing' refers to the co-operation of [[Organisation and structure of the Metropolitan Police#Basic Command Unit (BCU)|BCUs]] with pan-London units, many of them formerly TO units. The remaining pan-London units are now the remit of [[Organisation and structure of the Metropolitan Police#Met Operations|Met Operations]]. Where units have been renamed or reassigned, these are listed in italics.
*TO1 – General Department Services and HQ Support *TO3 – Area Support *TO4 – Public Carriage Office<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Moss |first=Alan |title=Departments and Branches at Scotland Yard 1829 - 2000 |url=https://historybytheyard.co.uk/branches_at_the_yard1.htm |access-date=2026-03-14 |website=History by the Yard}}</ref> (''now the [[Transport for London]] [[Taxicabs of the United Kingdom|Public Carriage Office]]'') *TO5 – Central Ticket Office<ref name=":1" /> (''now run by the [[Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency]] or local borough authorities'') *TO6 – Central Services (''now the [[Firearms Enquiry Team]]'') *TO7 – Divisional Support (''now the [[Charities Office]] and Borough Licensing Officers'') *TO9 – Crime and Divisional Policing Policy Branch<ref name=":1" /> *TO10 – Courts Division<ref name=":1" /> *TO14 – Traffic<ref name=":1" /> (''now CO15 – [[Traffic Operational Command Unit]]'') *TO18 – Public Order Training<ref name=":1" /> (''now CO11 – Metropolitan Police Public Order Operational Command Unit'') *TO20 – Public Order<ref name=":1" /> (''now CO11 – Metropolitan Police Territorial Support Group'') *TO25 – Central Communications Branch<ref name=":1" /> (''now Command, Control, Communication and Information – C3i'') *TO26 – [[Metropolitan Police Air Support Unit|Air Support Unit]]<ref name=":1" /> *TO27 – [[Metropolitan Police Mounted Branch|Mounted Branch]]<ref name=":1" /> *TO28 – Police Dog Section<ref name=":1" /> *TO29 – Thames Division<ref name=":1" /> (''now [[Marine Policing Unit]]'') ==See also== *[[Central Operations]] *[[Specialist Operations]]
== References == <references /> [[Category:Defunct Metropolitan Police units]]