With there now being just weeks left until the start of the Olympic Games 2012, all eyes are on London and the athletes participating in the world’s biggest sporting event. As the world gears up to watch the likes of Tom Daley, Shanaze Read, Eleanor Simmonds and Shelly Woods, the police of London are also preparing for the salvo of people, action and excitement that is about to arrive at the British capital.

While London’s police force has a huge job to do this summer there is one lesser known trait of Her Majesty’s London constabulary that more than deserves to be mentioned.

In the London Olympics of 1908 the police force of London’s Square Mile, known as the City of London Police, won a gold medal at Tug of War. The triumphant team of ‘pullers’ did not stop at one medal as the crew also claimed silver in the Stockholm Olympics of 1912 and went on to be crowned champions at Tug of War in the Antwerp 1920 Olympic Games.

As the Tug of War event was withdrawn from the Olympics after the 1920 Games, London’s Square Mile police force remain reigning champions!

As well as the champion tug of war crew of officers remaining unsung Olympic heroes, London’s Square Mile police remain the London Metropolitan Police’s lesser known police force.

London’s Square Mile refers to the capital’s business and financial district, commonly referred to as ‘The City’. Being the world’s leading financial centre, London’s Square Mile demands a bespoke police force, which has been specifically trained to protect the unique environment of The City where any disruption to ‘business as usual’ would have a serious impact on world financial markets.

As well as being committed to tackling crime at every level, the City of London Police plays a major role in fighting fraud.

Asides retaining the title of world champion tug of war sportsmen, and fighting crime and fraud at every level, the City of London police, according to its website, have fielded at least one competitor at every modern Olympic Games – A pretty impressive feat when you consider the constabulary only consists of 1,200 officers!