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In a lot of US cities citizens can do police ride alongs. You can do so in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Austin, TX, etc.

What about in London? If I was going to be visiting London for, say, a week, could I do a ride along with a police officer?

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    It will be a boring ride, no guns!
    – Nean Der Thal
    Commented May 30, 2014 at 19:02
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    I assume you're not referring to London, KY. :)
    – Karlson
    Commented May 30, 2014 at 19:10
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    Nothing I could find for London but certainly elsewhere: avonandsomerset.police.uk/services/ride-along-scheme
    – Karlson
    Commented May 30, 2014 at 19:20
  • All links in the question are broken except for Los Angeles.
    – Pere
    Commented Dec 4, 2023 at 17:12

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Having worked with London police for some time, I can tell you that, no, you cannot. Until a few years ago this was possible with an advance request, however there was an incident whereby the civilian on the ride-along was injured. To make the long story short, the practice was stopped straight away.

Moreover, even police student officers (i.e. already accepted into the police but still undergoing training) are not normally allowed to go on ride-along, although this rule is a bit easier to bend if you know the right people.

A civilian can take a ride in a police vehicle, as @avid noted, for one of two reasons: if you're arrested (going to the police station) or if you are a victim of crime (drive-around trying to identify the perpetrator). There are also exceptional circumstances where you might end up getting a ride in a police vehicle from point A to point B - but you'd never accompany police officers on their regular duties.

The only exception I know of is for media/journalists working on material about the police - but the formalities to go through to do it are worse than you can imagine.

UPDATE December 2023: from my sources in MPS, I am being told that the scheme is back on in some limited capacity and ride along can be arranged in a wider set of circumstances, although, naturally, I don't know all the details. Probably best to contact MPS media division.

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    A friend of mine once told me that he convinced two officers to give him a ride from London to Birmingham!! He was sleeping in a park at night in London and officers took him for "wandering". He told that his girlfriend was in Birmingham (not lying) for a holiday and they took him there! The funniest story I have ever heard...
    – Francesco Boffa
    Commented May 31, 2014 at 13:12
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    @AlfaOmega08 Sounds like a funny story, but very unlikely to be true. London to Birmingham, in the middle of a night on empty roads is over 2 hours one way. The return trip would have easily taken 5 hours. Not a chance :)
    – Aleks G
    Commented May 31, 2014 at 20:15
  • "The return trip would have easily taken 5 hours": with empty roads and emergency vehicle lights and/or siren, the police could presumably drive rather faster than the speed limit. Not that they'd likely do that to deliver this guy to Birmingham, I suppose.
    – phoog
    Commented Dec 4, 2023 at 19:41
  • @phoog there are very strict rules about when lights/sirens can be used; delivering somebody to birmingham would certainly not fit any of those rules.
    – Aleks G
    Commented Dec 7, 2023 at 17:07

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