Лондондық қарулы қылмысқа қарсы арнайы жасақ

Specialist branch of the Metropolitan Police that investigates armed and organised crime
the British police unit

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 abbreviation of the Cockney rhyming slang "Sweeney Todd" (rhyming "squad" with "todd"). The squad's purpose is to investigate robberies.

The squad was originally formed on an experimental basis by Detective Chief Inspector Frederick Wensley. In October 1919, Wensley summoned 12 detectives to Scotland Yard to form the squad. The group was initially named the Mobile Patrol Experiment and its original orders were to perform surveillance and gather intelligence on known robbers and pickpockets, using a horse drawn carriage with covert holes cut into the canvas. In 1920, it was officially reorganised under the authority of then Commissioner Nevil Macready. Headed by Detective Inspector Walter Hambrook, the squad was composed of 12 detective officers, including Irish born Jeremiah Lynch (1888–1953), who had earned a fearsome reputation for tracking wartime German spies and for building up the case against confidence trickster Horatio Bottomley. An alternative explanation for the "Flying Squad" name is that the first vehicles used were refurbished Crossley Motors 20/25 type tenders previously used by the Royal Flying Corps, which were supplied to the Metropolitan Police in 1920. Throughout the 1920s, the squad was standardised and expanded, and the establishment was expanded to 40 officers, under the command of Detective Chief Inspector Fred "Nutty" Sharpe until his retirement in July 1937. In 1948, the squad was given the designation of C. O. (C.8) for Commissioner's Office Crime 8 and was augmented. By 1956 it made one thousand arrests per year for the first time. From 1978 to 1981 the name was changed to the Central Robbery Squad, but still known as the Flying Squad. It is often referred to by the nicknames the "Heavy Mob" or "the Sweeney" (rhyming slang for Flying Squad, from Sweeney Todd). Twelve other officers were also convicted and many more resigned. These and other scandals led to a massive internal investigation by the Dorset Constabulary into the Metropolitan Police Service and the City of London Police, codenamed Operation Countryman.

In July 1948, the Squad learned of a plan to steal £750,000 (almost £25 million in 2019) of bullion, jewellery and other valuables from the BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) secure warehouse at Heathrow Airport by drugging the guards. Squad officers replaced the guards and pretended to be drugged, with other officers stationed around the warehouse. When the thieves removed the keys to the safe from Detective Sergeant Charles Hewett, the Squad announced its presence and a violent struggle ensued with many on both sides suffering serious injuries. The nine offenders received a total of 71 years' imprisonment for what became known as the Battle of London Airport. In the 1960s, the squad undertook the role of capturing and gathering evidence against the Kray twins, with many officers giving evidence in court. Some of the most dangerous work undertaken by the Flying Squad is the "pavement ambush", where police ambush armed robbers during an offence. During Operation Char in 1987, and Operation Yamoto in November 1990, this approach led to three armed robbers being shot dead by police. This made the headlines as being the first time police were fired upon by a machine gun in mainland Britain; one officer was struck in the head by a ricochet The eight gang members later received between 6 and 13 years each in jail. On 13 September 2007, the Flying Squad was involved in an incident outside a bank in the village of Chandler's Ford, near Southampton. Two suspected armed robbers were shot dead by members of SCO19, in support of a Flying Squad operation, who had been lying in wait after receiving a tip off that an armed robbery was imminent. The thieves were attempting armed robbery on a G4S security van outside the HSBC branch when they were killed by the SCO19 SFOs.

The Flying Squad's work was dramatised in the 1970s British television series The Sweeney, and two theatrically released feature film spin offs, Sweeney! and Sweeney 2, starring John Thaw and Dennis Waterman. A further film adaptation, The Sweeney (starring Ray Winstone), was released in 2012. A Monty Python sketch featured "Inspector Fox of the Light Entertainment Police, Comedy Division, Special Flying Squad", and "Inspector Thompson's Gazelle of the Programme Planning Police, Light Entertainment Division, Special Flying Squad." In an episode of the Thin Blue Line, Inspector Fowler expresses displeasure at the idea of the Flying Squad using his station for an investigation on the grounds that their members urinate inaccurately.