Unit 4: Law

The most famous police station in Britain is New Scotland Yard in London, but there are police stations all over the country. They've all got a blue light outside to show they are police stations.
For most people the police are the face of the law. They can arrest people in the street, but they also give information.
We visited a new police station in Lewisham, an area in south-east London. This is the custody room of the police station. A suspected criminal is being charged with a crime. He must hand over everything he's carrying or has got in his pockets.
Next they take fingerprints to check the person's identity. This machine scans fingerprints electronically and compares them with the national police database. They also take mouth swabs for analysis of DNA.
Suspects can be kept in the cells at the police station for several hours. This suspect spent a whole night in the cells.