Here's a short subject detailing the routine of detectives at Scotland Yard. There's some discussion of the technical issues involved in the Flying Squad -- detectives in cars, ready to race to the scene of a crime, and the lab work that backs them up. In this case, it's about the theft of some tea chests, and how the suspects are tracked down, processed and eventually convicted, with at least one of them choosing to plead guilty in open court after the prosecution has presented their evidence.
The workaday routine of various branches of the British state have become a standard since the GPO's film unit had produced short documentaries about how the mail moves around the country a dozen years before them. These documentaries were a useful counterpoint to the often fanciful fiction films of the time, with the heavy atmospheric work of film noir reaching its peak. FOr Americans, the equivalent would be found when DRAGNET premiered on the radio in 1949.
