Test Your Law Enforcement Knowledge With This Quiz

Detectives wear suits for a lot of reasons. They signify authority, grant access to certain social situations, blend in and conceal weaponry. They are also a tradition going back more than a century.

Today, the vast majority of police forces use some variation on military ranks to denote the authority given to an officer. This usually takes the form of officer, detective, lieutenant, etc.

Sir Robert Peel was behind the passage of the Metropolitan Police Act of 1829, which created a police force with very limited powers, permitted to patrol the streets of London and seek to interrupt crime. At the time, it could do little else.

When looking for a model for police in New York, the Metropolitan Police of London were chosen. The Met used a military-style ranking structure with clear lines of authority, uniforms and procedure, and the police of New York were created with these elements in mind.

1887 was a major expansion year for the Met, which had formerly be confined to 4 Whitehall Pl. One of their new facilities stood at the fateful address of 8 and 9 Great Scotland Yard. Of course, 4 Whitehall and several other buildings expanded into abutted Great Scotland Yard, but they didn't have the address in the name.

In 1870, a charter put an end to the chaotic manner in which the police were "organized" (read: directly controlled by rival politicians). After 1870, the NYPD was confined to its boroughs, starting with just Manhattan and Brooklyn.

In the early years of New York City's expansion, the city was divided up many ways. There were wards to divide up neighborhoods, the grid to divide up blocks, inspection districts to divide up the larger regions of police interest, and precincts to divide up the inspection districts.

Capsicum is not just the genus of pepper plants. It's also the active ingredient in this essential tool of the policing trade. Pepper spray is painful and terribly inconvenient, but because it is rarely lethal and temporarily disabling at worst, it's a great way to stop a criminal in their tracks without risking anyone's life.

Sure, cops in the 1800s weren't exactly kinder or gentler than they are today. There were still debtors prisons, Jim Crow laws and only men could vote back then. It was, however, frowned upon to beat one's family in public, and a policeman could intervene if they so chose.

Technology and personnel needs changed drastically by the 1960s, and the Met had to move house. It chose a brand new office tower at 10 Broadway for its new home, a place it has augmented repeatedly over the years with newer security and technology. The Met moved again in the early 2010s, citing space needs. As for the gibberish codes, those are post codes specific to buildings. SW1A 2HJ is the Civil Service Club on Great Scotland Yard, and SW1A 2JL should point to the current home of New Scotland Yard.

The Tombs is the nickname for the central booking facility in New York City's Chinatown neighborhood. While the current building is fairly new, the purpose of the site goes back to 1838, when the original city jail was built to resemble the Tomb of Mausolus, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Built on the site of the old Collect Pond, it sank into the ground and prisoners often got Trench Foot as a result of being held in cells full of water.

The Great Police Riot was a pitched battle between the Metropolitan Police and the Municipal Police, rival police forces run by corrupt politicians. The two forces constantly undermined each other and sank deeper and deeper into corruption as a result. Tensions boiled over in a riot, but it took court fights between the two groups' leaders to put an end to the conflict. By autumn, the Municipal Police were dissolved by court order.

While Oxford's bridge of sighs is just a corridor, the ones in New York City and Venice were built for the same reason: to transport prisoners from jail to court without having to step outside. The bridge of sighs in Venice overlooks a canal, and tourists can go beneath it in gondolas. The bridge of sighs at The Tombs spans a parking lot and overlooks bail bondsmen, cheap restaurants and brutalist architecture.

A series of bills between 1999 and 2012 gave rise to a new order of bureaucratic oversight for the Met. Not to be confused with MOPAR, MOPAC stands for Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime, and it's the conduit through which the Mayor of London exerts control over the police. The mayoral appointee put in charge of MOPAC is Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, and the whole thing is overseen by the Police and Crime Committee, which is in turn run by the London Assembly.

Every police department that allows officers to carry weapons has to standardize what is allowed. These days, most departments favor the 9mm format for its effectiveness, size and ease of use. Cincinnati's police manual specifies the standard duty pistol as the Smith and Wesson Military and Police 9mm, designated M&P9 by the manufacturer.

While race, ethnicity and national origin are all explicitly defined as factors that, if used as the basis for "any police-initiated action," would be racial profiling, religious affiliation is not. At least, it isn't Portland, Oregon.

Police officers, while respected and important, must not become another class of citizen, so it has been important since the early days that they function differently when they are working and when they are not working. On the job, the police have powers no one should have as a private citizen, so police have tight strictures on what they can do on their time off, including when they can become involved in a situation as a police officer.

While the Met takes measures to prevent terrorism and has done so since The Troubles, counterterrorism is primarily the purview of MI-5, which is somewhat akin to the FBI, in the UK.

The Dodge Charger does not get good mileage. It doesn't come in hybrid form. It does, however, go really fast. This is why the NYPD uses it not as a patrol cruiser, but as a highway patrol vehicle. Sure, it would do the job as a cruiser, but it would also eat a lot more fuel than its slower counterparts, and that's money the NYPD could spend on other things.

The BMW X5 is found in the Met's arsenal of vehicles, but its designation is as a Armed Response Vehicle. This makes sense when you consider its size, speed, ease of armoring, off road ability and rear hatch, all of which lend themselves to the task of positioning a SWAT team rather than delivering an officer to mediate a domestic dispute.

During the year 1943 in Los Angeles, a group of white LAPD officers got in a fight with a group of Latino youths. The brawl turned into a melee, and the melee into a riot. Perhaps as a way of placing the blame squarely on the youths, the riots were dubbed the Zoot Suit Riots to reference the style of baggy suits favored by the youths at the time.

British police do not carry guns, unlike most police forces. Australians mostly do, despite the similar culture.

As ridiculous as it sounds, until recently this was really how female cops in the UK were listed. They had Police Constables, then under special skills, Woman Police Constables. Being a woman is a special skill, apparently.

Several local drug dealers showed up to the fake wedding where both the bride and groom were undercover cops. They were all captured, though there is no word on whether or not they had cake first.

This fearsome prolific illegal driver suddenly turned up all over Ireland right after free movement within Europe was extended to cover Poland. That's because Prawo Jadzy is Polish for "driver's license."

While there are not a lot of people in Finland, the fact that this number is so low is a testament to either a very healthy society, a great police force, or both.

In 2012, Akron PD finally caught up to the serial automobile vandal dubbed The Pooping Bandit in the press. Known for decorating vehicles by defecating in and on them, he was found astride the hood of a car, releasing his latest expression on its surface. Previously, he had done his dirty work inside unlocked cars, and even on their door handles.

In 2010, a Swedish driver in a Mercedes-Benz SLS was clocked at over 186 mph in Switzerland. While Switzerland will tolerate tax evasion, and they may never ask you where you got all that gold, they will stomp you hard for speeding. This Swede was issued a ticket for roughly $1 million.

In the state of Virginia, driving over 80 mph, or indeed driving at any speed 20 mph over the posted speed limit, is considered misdemeanor reckless driving. Due to Virginia law, this will remain on your record for all time, meaning that if someone does a background check on you, it will likely pop up.

Japanese police have better things to do than get killed in a high speed chase. As a result, they came up with this clever idea to catch escaping criminals: paint their cars a horrendous orange they can't get off with what they called bohan yo kara boru or "anti-crime color balls." These things, which look like baseballs, mark fleeing vehicles, making them easy for the cops to pick out later so there isn't a chance of someone getting hurt in a chase.

Dutch police are required to carry a lot of gear. There is their "GPS-navigatiesysteem," their "Zwaailicht en sirene," and of course, their "Teddybeer om aan een kind te geven dat iets ergs is overkomen," which translates to "Teddy bear to give to a child who just went through something terrible."

The Gendarmerie Nationale was founded in 1306 as the Maréchaussée (Marshals, like in the US), but was renamed Gendarmerie Nationale in 1791 by the government of the French Revolution. Cest la vie.

The Seattle PD puts its whole procedure manual online so the residents of Seattle can have a better idea of what is expected of their police. The Use of Force section of their manual lists seven core principles, each made up of several ideas and followed by a litany of bullet points elaborating on each idea.

According to the 2016 figures compiled by the World Bank, the U.S. ranks 34th in "intentional homicide" worldwide, with 5.35 intentional homicides per 100,000 people. By comparison, El Salvador, with its rocky economy, weak government and powerful underworld is number one with 82.84 murders per 100,000 people, and the UK, with its strong social contract, robust economy and strong gun control laws is 62nd, with 1.2 per 100,000.