The police service is organised locally, with one police service for each county of group
of counties. The largest force is the Metropolitan Police, which serves London and is
based at New Scotland Yard. Northern Ireland as a whole is served by the Police Service
for Northern Ireland (PSNI). The police have “operational independence’”, which means
that the government cannot instruct them on what to do in any particular case. But the
powers of the police are limited by law and their finances are controlled by the
government and by police authorities made up of councillors and magistrates. The
Independent Police Complaints Commission, (or, in Northern Ireland, the Police
Ombudsman) investigates serious complaints against the police.

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