# What does ‘Scotland Yard’ mean to you, if anything
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-scotland-yard-mean-to-you-if-anything/822861
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [October 12, 2018, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-scotland-yard-mean-to-you-if-anything/822861 "2018-10-12T16:06:04Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2018, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-scotland-yard-mean-to-you-if-anything/822861/41 "2018-10-12T21:40:55Z")
My response would be that it is the headquarters of either the British national police force, or the British equivalent of the FBI. I would guess that it is in London, because everything British is in London.
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### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2018, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-scotland-yard-mean-to-you-if-anything/822861/42 "2018-10-12T22:12:31Z")
If the UK ever goes metric, will they have to rename it Scotland Oh Point Nine One Four Four Meter?
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### Author:  [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2018, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-scotland-yard-mean-to-you-if-anything/822861/43 "2018-10-12T22:27:26Z")
> [@Seren359](#):
>
> the “City of London” police department only covers a very small area in the centre of the City which covers the royal palaces and the very rich peoples houses!
The “[City of London](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_London)” is more like Britain’s equivalent to “Wall Street”. Even rich people generally don’t actually live there. Nor does the Queen; [Buckingham Palace](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckingham_Palace) is in the “City of Westminster”, which is [now part](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Westminster) of what [most people think of when you say “London”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_London_Authority). The [Tower of London](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_London) is also outside of the “City of London” (but within “Greater London”); and [Windsor Castle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windsor_Castle) is outside of even Greater London (although Windsor Castle [is in what you might term the very most expansive definition of “London”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_counties)).
London, London, London. London no longer sounds like a word.
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### Author:  [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2018, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-scotland-yard-mean-to-you-if-anything/822861/44 "2018-10-13T00:15:37Z")
I’ve watched enough BBC to know it is synonymous with the Metropolitan Police based on where the original headquarters was.
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#):
>
> After reading this thread it would seem it is just the Metro London force.
Greater London is a [region](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regions_of_England). That’s the highest subnational\* level of government in England. Aside from the small City of London mentioned above that’s all covered by the Met/Scotland Yard. Greater London has a population of 8.8 million compared to 65.4 million for the entire UK. For a share of the population served it’s a bit larger than California is in the US if all the state and local law enforcement were combined into one massive law enforcement organization. In Canadian terms, it would be between the provinces of British Columbia and Quebec. “Just” is probably an understatement coming from us colonials.
- With the UK being composed of multiple nations - England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland.
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### Author:  [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2018, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-scotland-yard-mean-to-you-if-anything/822861/45 "2018-10-15T04:30:11Z")
So is there a pan-UK investigative service above the level of the Metropolitan Police and any other territorial police forces?
For example, most states have something at a state level here in the US- in Texas, it’s the Texas Rangers who fill that investigative role, as well as local municipal police and county sheriffs. We also have the Federal level law enforcement- the FBI, in other words.
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### Author:  [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2018, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-scotland-yard-mean-to-you-if-anything/822861/46 "2018-10-15T04:50:57Z")
> [@Seren359](#):
>
> Scotland yard (or Old Scotland yard) was the building housing the Metropolitan Police headquarters in London.
> They investigated many high profile cases and gained a reputation in the Victorian press.
Strictly speaking, that was New Scotland Yard. Nowadays, that building is Parliamentary offices. The Met HQ moved out to Victoria St., and then back to another site along the Embankment.
The metaphorical use comes from the days when all policing was local, but the Met had a dedicated detective department and more forensic skills than local forces, so in many cases, they were called in to take over complicated and/or high profile cases, especially where several different parts of the country might be involved. But over the last 50 years or so, that’s become a dead letter, as dedicated regional and national agencies were set up to take on specialist work.
I’m not sure anyone in London uses the term that way any more, nor in the national media.
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### Author:  [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2018, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-scotland-yard-mean-to-you-if-anything/822861/47 "2018-10-15T10:57:54Z")
Headquarters of the London police force (although I was not aware that this did not cover the City until this thread). I would suspect that most of the personnel located there at any given time would be administrators, investigators, and specialists of various kinds. Given the size of the metropolitan area the force serves, I would expect patrol organization to be decentralized, operating from other hubs.
Architecturally, I picture two or three narrowish buildings of brick or brownstone, several stories tall, with a fenced area in front of/between them, because my first conception of the Yard is from Sherlock Holmes. Thinking about it realistically, however, I imagine that it’s now a larger, more modern office building.
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### Author:  [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2018, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-scotland-yard-mean-to-you-if-anything/822861/48 "2018-10-15T12:14:45Z")
I always thought Scotland Yard was where the elite detectives worked out of, sort of like our FBI. Got a tough case? Call Scotland Yard, they’ll figure it out.
Now playing Civ 4 it’s a building you can make with a Great Spy to increase espionage production.
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### Author:  [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2018, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-scotland-yard-mean-to-you-if-anything/822861/49 "2018-10-15T13:00:20Z")
> [@bump](#):
>
> So is there a pan-UK investigative service above the level of the Metropolitan Police and any other territorial police forces?
>
> For example, most states have something at a state level here in the US- in Texas, it’s the Texas Rangers who fill that investigative role, as well as local municipal police and county sheriffs. We also have the Federal level law enforcement- the FBI, in other words.
There’s the [National Crime Agency,](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Crime_Agency) which nobody ever seems to have heard of, but which actually does a lot of what some people seem to think Scotland Yard does.
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### Author:  [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2018, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-scotland-yard-mean-to-you-if-anything/822861/50 "2018-10-15T19:53:55Z")
I envision the buidling as a walled outdoor space outside a castle, with a groundcover of tartan. Inside are detectives, employees of the UK, not specific to London.
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### Author:  [@Sloe\_Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sloe_Moe)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2018, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-scotland-yard-mean-to-you-if-anything/822861/51 "2018-10-15T23:25:50Z")
And then there’s “The New” Scotland Yard. Don’t even know how it differs from the old.
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### Author:  [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2018, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-scotland-yard-mean-to-you-if-anything/822861/52 "2018-10-15T23:29:34Z")
Scotland Yard are the ones who are always fouling things up for Sherlock Holmes.
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### Author:  [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2018, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-scotland-yard-mean-to-you-if-anything/822861/53 "2018-10-15T23:36:54Z")
New Scotland Yard was the name given to the then-new Norman Shaw-designed building on Victoria Embankment which the Police moved into after outgrowing the original one in 1890. In 1967 they moved into a leased office block on Broadway, taking the NSY name with them. Recently they have moved again.
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### Author:  [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2018, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-scotland-yard-mean-to-you-if-anything/822861/54 "2018-10-16T01:10:23Z")
It (was) the address of the headquarters of the major police agency in London, standing in for the name of the agency much the same way as the White House means the POTUS, and 1 Police Plaza means the NYPD Headquarters.
Now it is a time-honored name no matter the address.
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### Author:  [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2018, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-scotland-yard-mean-to-you-if-anything/822861/55 "2018-10-16T05:23:49Z")
> [@Sloe\_Moe](#):
>
> And then there’s “The New” Scotland Yard. Don’t even know how it differs from the old.
“Old” Scotland Yard was part of the original Palace of Whitehall, which housed much of the court and government offices, as the area generally still does. It was in effect the Scottish Embassy to London, and, under the Stuarts, the office serving the monarch’s dealings with government and parliament in Scotland.
Most buildings in the palace were replaced or destroyed by fire in the late 17th century. The original Metropolitan Police offices were on the site of the old Scottish offices and there is still a street called Great Scotland Yard. New Scotland Yard was built nearby as their purpose-built HQ in late Victorian times, but is now offices for MPs, as the Met have moved their HQ twice since then.
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### Author:  [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2018, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-scotland-yard-mean-to-you-if-anything/822861/56 "2018-10-16T07:28:40Z")
Interestingly, The Met Police have recognised the value of the name, and set it up as a brand name available for hire for games and wotnot. I stumbled across this site, which is official ([safe link](https://www.met.police.uk/newscotlandyard/)).
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### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2018, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-scotland-yard-mean-to-you-if-anything/822861/57 "2018-10-16T08:46:09Z")
> [@SanVito](#):
>
> Without googling, what do you think of when you hear ‘Scotland Yard’, if you ever have heard of it?
Headquarters of the Met, with that triangular sign that says “New Scotland Yard” on it (it amuses me that it’s been “New” since Victoria was queen)
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