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Metropolitan police is a generic title for the municipal police force for a major metropolitan area, and it may be part of the official title of the force. They provide all general police services and tend to be headed by a chief called a Commissioner or Sheriff.

In the United States, metropolitan police agencies have often been formed through mergers between several local police agencies formerly holding jurisdiction within neighboring communities within a metropolitan area or county, such as several local police departments and possibly the county sheriff's office. Typically, such communities have experienced recent population growth and urban sprawl, which causes the area to more closely resemble and function as one single conurbation. Under these circumstances, a single law enforcement agency with a unified command, jurisdiction and support structure comes to be seen as more appropriate and efficient. A related concept exists in some American counties in which county sheriffs' offices contract with some (though not necessarily all) local cities or towns within their counties to provide all law enforcement services in those municipalities in lieu of a separate city or town police force.

Examples of use of the term "Metropolitan Police" include:

• The large municipal police force of an Indian city, which is headed by a Commissioner and may be independent of the state police, such as Mumbai Police.
• The Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia.
• The Dublin Metropolitan Police, now absorbed into the Garda Síochána.
• The Greater London Metropolitan Police Service, formerly (and still commonly) known as the Metropolitan Police or simply the Met.
• The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
• The Miami-Dade Police Department, formerly the Metro-Dade Police Department, is the county police force for Dade County, Florida, although its jurisdiction excludes the city of Miami itself.
• The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.
• The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.
• The Toronto Police Service, formerly (and still commonly) known as Metropolitan Toronto Police or simply Metro.
• The Metropolitan District Commission Police (commonly known as the Metropolitan Police), a former agency in Massachusetts that was merged with the Massachusetts State Police in 1992.