Special Branch - United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Hong Kong, India

A branch of the British police force principally responsible for investigating offences against public order, including terrorism, sedition, treason, and contravention of the Official Secrets Act. It was formed in 1883 following a series of bomb attacks on mainland Britain by Irish Nationalists. It has a role in information-gathering and the surveillance of subversive organizations.

Special Branch is the arm of the British, Irish and many Commonwealth police forces that deals with national security matters.

The original was called the Special Irish Branch, part of London's Metropolitan Police, and was formed in March 1883 to counter the Irish Republican Brotherhood .

United Kingdom

Each British police force has its own Special Branch (not to be confused with its Special Constabulary), the largest by far being that of the Specialist Operations department of the Metropolitan Police (SO12).

Special Branch has responsibility for, amongst other things, personal protection of (non-royal) VIPs and performing the role of examining officer at designated ports and airports, as prescribed by the Terrorism Act 2000.

It was announced, in September 2005, that the Metropolitan Police Special Branch would be merging with the Anti-Terrorism Branch of the Metropolitan Police to form a new department called Counter Terrorism Command.

Republic of Ireland

The Special Branch of the Garda Síochána is now called the Special Detective Unit (SDU). The unit is responsible for:

State protection Monitoring the activities of subversive and extremist groups Investigation of subversion and terrorism Protection of VIPs Protection of cash in transit Provision of armed response Operation of the Witness Security Programme

The Emergency Response Unit, the Garda's equivalent of United States SWAT units, is also part of the SDU.

Hong Kong

The Special Branch of the Royal Hong Kong Police Force (now Hong Kong Police Force) was disbanded in 1995, prior to the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China in 1997.

India

The Special Branch is a separate wing in the state police forces in India. The special branch has its own detective constables, head constables, inspector rankings and superior police officer rankings. Every police station is to have a special branch head constable (working plain clothes or Mufti), he would be observing the society in general, and also taking reports from the uniformed police constables walking the beat.