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Whatever work the police do - from directing traffic to football crowd security, from preventing organised crime to detective work with hi-tech scientific back-up - they do for us. Their duty is based around the needs of the community to be protected from crime, the effects of crime and the fear of crime.

In Britain, policing has developed over the centuries into today's professional police service, serving the community, preventing crime and apprehending criminals. For many years there was no such thing as a 'police force' - it was the duty of everyone in the country to catch criminals. There was not always law and order.

The police in Britain deal with about six million 999 emergency calls a year and are faced with more and more complicated crimes. Recent developments to help them target resources and meet the ever-changing challenges of protecting society include:

• taking a fresh look at how to prevent and tackle crime;
• working in closer partnership with the community;
• streamlining its own management structures; and
• using the latest technology
• The support and consent of the public are essential to effective policing.

Police Forces

There are 43 police forces and more than 127,000 police officers in England and Wales - about one for every 400 people. The size of individual forces depends on both population and area. Where fewer people live, one force can cover a larger area, for example Devon and Cornwall.

At the head of each force is the Chief Constable (except in London, where the Metropolitan Police and the City of London Police are each headed by a Commissioner). A Chief Constable is responsible for the day to day management of policing in the area and for overall command of the operations the police carry out on the public's behalf.

To keep policing in tune with local needs, the areas are broken down into Divisions, each under the leadership of a Superintendent. Each Divisional headquarters controls a network of local stations. Home beat, crime prevention and other community officers work from individual police stations, which also have their own criminal investigation department (CID), police cells and communications centres.

To create a police service that reflects the community it serves, forces encourage women and people from ethnic minority communities to apply for jobs. Of the 127,000 or more police officers in England and Wales, more than 18,500 are women and more than 2,300 officers are from ethnic minorities. In 1995, Pauline Clare of Lancashire Constabulary became the first women Chief Constable. In 1997, Wiltshire Constabulary became the second force to appoint a woman as Chief Constable. In May 1996 Tariq Ghaffur became the first ethnic minority officer to be appointed as an Assistant Chief Constable, with Lancashire Constabulary.

London's Metropolitan Police is the largest single force. Each of its five areas is about the size of a complete force elsewhere in the country. Its headquarters are at New Scotland Yard. The name Scotland Yard had become so strongly linked in the public's imagination with the Metropolitan Police that when they built a new centre they took the name with them. Each area of London has its own operational and administrative responsibilities. The City of London has its own police force.