SCOTLAND YARD's famous vice squad, which has been long-favoured by the makers of detective programmes and which has battled prostitution and the criminal underworld in London since 1932, has been renamed, writes Mark Hennessy.
From now on, it will be called the “Serious Crime Directorate 9: Human Exploitation and Organised Crime Command”.
However, some former police officers have dubbed the move a concession to political correctness.
The former Obscene Publications Unit, which targets pornography and exploitative material and which was better known as the “Dirty Squad”, has also been brought into the newly renamed unit, said the Metropolitan Police.
The move was taken because “vice” is now deemed to have “negative connotations”.
“While once the unit just dealt with on-street prostitution, we now tackle international trafficking in highly complex covert operations,” said SCD9’s head, Det Chief Supt Richard Martin.