Toronto Police Service in 1834 when the city of Toronto was first created from the town of York. (Prior to that, local able-bodied male citizens were required to report for night duty as special constables for a fixed number of nights a year on the pain of fine or imprisonment in a system known as "watch and ward". The Toronto Police is one of the English-speaking world's oldest modern municipal police departments; older than, for example, the New York City Police Department which was formed in 1845 or the Boston Police Department which was established in 1839. The London Metropolitan Police of 1829
History of the Metropolitan Police Service controversy and accusations of police brutality. The best known of the police brutality cases was the killing of Blair Peach. (In 1986, the SPG was succeeded by the Territorial Support Group which did much of the same role, but was a modernised form.) In the late 1970s Operation Countryman investigated allegations of endemic corruption in the 1960s and 1970s. It concluded that there had been corruption at many levels. Only 8 prosecutions were brought but several hundred officers retired or resigned as a result. In 1981, a report issued by Lord Scarman stated that the Metropolitan Police were having problems