Law

The most famous police station in Britain is New Scotland Yard in London.They've all got a blue light outside to show they are police stations.We visited a new police station in Lewisham, an area in south-east London.This is teh custody room of the police station.A suspected criminal is being charged with a crime.Next they take fingerprints to check the person's identity.This machine scans finferprints electronically and compares them with the national police database.Suspects can be kept in the cells at the police station for several hours.This suspect spent a whole night inthe cells.

Next day he went to court.Here three magistrates listen to evidence from the police and witnesses.They the decide if the person is guilty or not guilty.Police officers go out on horses every day, but lots of police horses are needed when there are large crowds, at football matches or demonstrations for example.

The evidence that the police collect from a crime scene is analysed in laboratories like this.The people who work here are called forensic scientists.They can examine and analyse material from the crime scene to find out exactly what happened.Fingerprints are a good way of identifying people but DNAis more reliable.A person's identity can be found from a single hair!Forensic scientists provide the evidence thet hepls the courts decide whether a suspect is guilty of a crime or not.The courts then decide on the sentence.