Since 1919, Scotland Yard's Flying Squad has been in the forefront of
the war against crime. From patrolling London's streets in horse-drawn
wagons, it has progressed to the use of the most sophisticated
surveillance and crime-fighting equipment.
Between the Wars, the Squad targeted protection gangs who infested
British racecourses and greyhound tracks. The highly effective Ghost
Squad was formed to tackle black-marketeering in the aftermath of the
Second World War.
As crime figures soared in the 1950s and '60s the Flying Squad, as C8
Department was now known became involved in the most serious cases
nationwide - The Great Train Robbery, Brink's Mat, The Millennium Dome
and Hatton Garden heists. As always, the Squad concentrated on ambushing
and arresting armed robbers in the act as, in police parlance, they
'went across the pavement'.
Despite many high-profile successes, allegations of corruption have
haunted the Flying Squad and after the conviction of officers in 2001
there was a very real possibility of disbandment.
Yet this most famous of police units survived and today continues to
fight and be feared by the hardest of criminals.
Drawing on first-hand accounts, Dick Kirby has put together a thrilling
book that proves that fact is way better than fiction.
