G.B. ENGLAND. London. In response to past violence in the streets of Britain, British police are fast changing. Instead of the image of the avuncular bobby on the "beat" elite Special Patrol Units are being formed in each police division, highly mobile and trained weekly in the use of firearms, and drilled in the use of riot control equipment and the management of street violence. No longer the passive force they used to be, Britain's police are becoming a highly technological force with the use of sophisticated computer networks, and specialised electronic methods of crime detection.
This has provoked in Britain a vigorous debate, questioning whether the direction they are going is in fact the right one. People argue that this new highly agressive form of policing is provoking more of the type of street violence which it seeks to dispel.

Video cameras mounted on Metropolitan police helicopters help traffic control. Here the officer is observing a traffic accident on a highway M.4 in which a lorry has shed its load. Drivers bellow were instructed via the helicopter's public addresss system to pull over on the hard shoulder. The camera is being developed so that pictures can be transmitted directly to Scotland Yard. It also has applications in crowds control and the monitoring of demonstrations. 1981.