Homicide and Serious Crime Command

The Homicide and Serious Crime Command (SCD 1) is an Operational Command Unit of the Metropolitan Police responsible for the investigation of homicide and other serious crimes in London. Most of their work is carried out by Murder Investigation Teams, of which there are 24. In addition to the MITs, there are also five city-wide units:

• The Central Criminal Court Trials Unit works with the MITs and Crown Prosecution Service on cases that go to trial at the Central Criminal Court at the Old Bailey. The unit also advocates good practice and procedure through the Policy Unit, Forensic Science Services and the Detective Training Academy.
• The Special Projects Investigation Unit reviews serious crime investigations and conducts primary investigations in certain cases.
• The Coroner's Office ensures that investigations are correctly undertaken within the legal constraints of the powers of the Coroner. Coroner's Officers have a key role as liaison between Operational Command Units, the Coroner's Office and the families of the victims. They also attend the scenes of unexplained deaths to support officers by identifying possible causes of death and advising on scene preservation and the recovery of the deceased.
• The HOLMES Support Unit supports police forces nationwide in their use of HOLMES, the Home Office Large Major Enquiry System.
• Forensic Review Support staff review current or historical scenes of crime evidence. The unit works with the Specialist Crime Review Group and Homicide Units and provides advice on forensic evidence recovery including forensic science advances.

External links

• Homicide and Serious Crime Command official website