The Sweeney: The First Sixty Years of Scotland Yard's Flying Squad

by Dick Kirby

The story of sixty years of Scotland Yard’s top crime-busting department has been written over a twenty year period by a former detective who spent over eight years with the Flying Squad – The Sweeney.

The meticulous research by the author has uncovered files never before released by the Yard and he has amassed the tales of bravery and top-notch investigations, carried out by the Squad officers of yesteryear.

The book commences with the dramatic account of the daring gold bullion and jewellery raid in 1948 by a gang of well-organised criminals from the newly-opened Heathrow Airport. The Flying Squad were lying in wait for them and what happened next, was described by a judge at the Old Bailey as, ‘The Battle of Heathrow’.

The Flying Squad was formed to stem the tide of lawlessness, following the First World War; from humble beginnings using horse-drawn wagons, they swiftly progressed to high-speed cars. Taking on the might of the Racetrack Gangs, armed robbers and smash & grab raiders, the Squad was brought to the forefront of the public’s attention.

The war years, the secret post-war Ghost Squad, the horse-doping scandals, the Great Train Robbery, the Bank of America robbery, Supergrasses and corruption are recounted with its scrupulous attention to detail. The book is filled with thrilling, amusing and always compelling anecdotes from the men who were there. It was the Flying Squad who inspired the popular TV series. This book reveals what life was really like in The Sweeney.

325 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2011

Reviews

[Peter Fox · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is basically 60 years of cops arresting villains. Each story interesting enough in itself, but over a couple of hundred pages it gets repetitive.

Coppers whom you've never heard of, chasing robbers whom you've never heard of.

Whilst each individual incident is ok, en-masse it just feels like more of the same.

This could have been addressed if Kirby had spoken more about the organisation of the Flying Squad, how it all came together and then intermeshed with the other police agencies, but he doesn't. He just recounts another tale of a robber getting his comeuppance.

There's a lot about the cars that the Squad used, up to 1970, but then that peters out. In fact, most of the photos are of cars used. It would have been nice if there had been more photos of the detectives, as that might have helped make them feel more relatable. Instead, you get a pen portrait that inevitably tells you how tough the cop was, but not a lot more.

Bizarrely the programme, The Sweeney, is only mentioned once, which seems to be a huge miss. That show brought the Squad to national attention and is still what it is best known for today. It would have been interesting to hear about the effects this had on the Squad.

Also, although corruption is mentioned a few times, it isn't gone into.

In fact, this book isn't that well balanced. Superiors are judged on whether they left the lads of the Squad to get on with it, or if they tried to get them to fill in the odd form here and there. With the odd mention of immigrants and crime, plus the rhapsodising of the days when coppers would have a punch up with the villains (naturally coming out on top), this book would really appeal to Daily Mail readers who think law and order has gone to the dogs since they were kids.

[Jan Edwards · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the TV show but a book looking into Scotland Yard’s history. Details about criminals and the officers who chased them from an ex-copper who served with that unit. I bought this for research purposed and was somewhat disappointed that just 70 pages out of 220 covered the period between 1919 and 1949. Fascinating details but if you want to read about the Yard between and indeed during the two world wars as the cover would indicate then this book is of limited value.

[Mick Meyers · Rating 3 out of 5]

A reasonably good book,one of the best chapters was on the capture and trial of the great train robbers.gives a lot of information on some the personnel who helped formed the flying squad.odd bits in it regarding the cars used and budgets didn't really interest me,but a book is written with more than one person in mind.

[Stewart Cotterill · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book about real coppers who’d frighten today’s top brass with their ability to actually get results.

Oh for the return of men and women of this calibre to take the scum off the streets.

[geoff Bridgman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant

Loved this book gave an insight of the flying squad ,well written you could almost.picture the villains and detectives. Excellent..

[Shaun Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well worth a read

Well written history of the Flying Squad by someone who has seen it from the inside and can talk about both the good and the bad. Well worth a read

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book on and off for months. It's a great historical account of cases, criminals and cops. It was extremely well researched and documented. I'd recommend it to anyone with an interest in Scotland Yard and its history.