Green’s Dictionary of Slang

Scotland Yard; later New Scotland Yard, the headquarters of London’s Metropolitan Police.

1901		E.W. Hornung Black Mask (1992) 215: I begin to believe you are from the Yard.
1918		News of the World 26 May 2/4: I am from the Yard, and know your house well.
1926		N. Lucas London and its Criminals 6: I have known crooks whose finger prints were known at the ‘Yard’ actually undergo grafting operations.
1934		J. Franklyn This Gutter Life 285: One o’ the ugliest bogeys from the Yard has got his gig-lamps on me!
1940		N. Mitford Pigeon Pie 182: At what stage [...] does the beautiful heroine abandon her lone trail and call in the heavy hand, large boots and vacant faces of the Yard?
1957		P. Beveridge Inside the C.I.D. 63: ‘Ring the Yard, Bob,’ I said. ‘Let’s have the print and picture boys round.’.
1962		R. Cook Crust on its Uppers 52: It wouldn’t have fooled the boys at the Yard.
1976		P. Theroux Family Arsenal 258: I heard he’d been rumbled. The Yard’s on to him.
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak.
1997		A. Frewin London Blues 297: Written by one of the Yard’s top bananas.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 67: Making out we were being targeted by the Other People’s Criminal Intelligence outfit, SO11, some of the Yard’s top boys.