Series
Metropolitan Police Service: Specialist Operations Branch (SO1): Records of the War...
Catalogue reference: MEPO 41
What's it about?
MEPO 41
Registered case and policy files. Videotapes selected for preservation will be deposited at the NFTVA
Full description and record details
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Reference (The unique identifier to the record described, used to order and refer to it)
- MEPO 41
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Title (The name of the record)
- Metropolitan Police Service: Specialist Operations Branch (SO1): Records of the War Crimes Unit 1991-1999
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Description (What the record is about)
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Registered case and policy files. Videotapes selected for preservation will be deposited at the NFTVA
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Separated material (A cross-reference between records that are related by provenance but now kept separately)
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Videotaped interviews to be deposited at the National Film and Television Archive
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Former department reference (Former identifier given by the originating creator)
- Series CR (crime) subject cut 184 (war crimes)
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Legal status (A note as to whether the record being described is a Public Record or not)
- Public Record(s)
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Language (The language of the record)
- Miscellaneous
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Creator(s) (The creator of the record)
- Metropolitan Police Service, Specialist Operations (SO1) Branch, War Crimes Unit, 1991-1999
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Access conditions (Information on conditions that restrict or affect access to the record)
- Records not yet transferred
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Immediate source of acquisition (When and where the record was acquired from)
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Metropolitan Police Office
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Accumulation dates (The dates the record was accumulated)
- 1991 to 2000
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Accruals (Indicates whether the archive expects to receive further records in future)
- No future accruals expected
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Selection and destruction information (Information about how the record was selected for archiving)
- All the records have been selected for preservation with the exception of sound recordings as these duplicated the videotape soundtrack.
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Administrative / biographical background (Historical or biographical information about the creator of the record and the context of its creation)
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The investigation of war crimes is one of the functions of the Metropolitan Police and is documented on the CR file series in MEPO 26. The records in this series are drawn from that series but were created for the use of the unit constituted under the War Crimes Act 1991.
Under the Act a unit staffed by the Metropolitan Police Service was formed to "investigate allegations of war crimes (limited to murder, manslaughter and culpable homicide constituting a violation of the laws and customs of war) which were committed between 1 September 1939 and 5 June 1945 in Germany or German occupied territory by persons who were, on 8 March 1990, or who have subsequently become, British citizens or resident in the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man or any of the Channel Islands."
The Act received royal assent on 8 May and the unit began investigations on 28 May. Over 300 allegations were investigated by the Unit which was able to draw on the support of interpreters, historians and lawyers. A small number of investigations resulted in prosecution.
The Metropolitan Police War Crimes Unit was formally wound up in 1999 and residual work was taken over by a section of the Organised Crime Group within Specialist Operations (SO) Department.
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Record URL
- https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/id/C15639/
Catalogue hierarchy
Within the department: MEPO
Records of the Metropolitan Police Office
You are currently looking at the series: MEPO 41
Metropolitan Police Service: Specialist Operations Branch (SO1): Records of the War Crimes Unit 1991-1999