The Metropolitan Police first took up their duties on the streets of London on the evening of the 29th September 1829. The area comprising their jurisdiction was known as "The Metropolitan Police District" and contained the parishes within Westminster and extended to parts of the counties of Middlesex, Surrey, Hertford, Essex and Kent. The Metropolitan Police Act, 1829, by which they were established, also provided for the further expansion of the Metropolitan Police District to include any additional parishes in these same counties that were within twelve miles of Charing Cross. Under this authority, a further eight Divisions were added to the Metropolitan Police on 9th February 1830 and another, 'T' Division, was added on 1st May. By the 1st of the following month, June of 1830, the Metropolitan Police had grown to a total strength of 3,314 Police Officers across seventeen Divisions.

It was often found that, as the new Divisions of the Metropolitan Police were established, crime in those areas peaked in the days before their arrival and subsequently increased in the surrounding, uncovered areas. Some of these parishes, such as Blackheath and Lewisham, responded by establishing their own local Police force, driving these unwanted elements still further out into other formerly peaceful villages such as Beckenham in Kent. This had real consequences at Beckenham as there was neither a Policeman, a watchman nor even a parish constable to protect its inhabitants. The crimes the inhabitants became particularly subject to were the plunder of farmers of their corn, poultry and horses.

In July of 1836, under the exertions of Alderman Samuel Wilson, who was later the Lord Mayor of London in 1838, Beckenham followed the example of some of its neighbours and established its own local Police force. As was often the practice around the country after the establishment of the Metropolitan Police, a request was made of the Commissioners of the Metropolitan Police to provide one or more Officers to seed the new local Constabulary, with suitable candidates chosen from the ranks of the Metropolitan Police. In reply to their enquiry, Mr Edward Coddington was one of the Metropolitan Policemen recommended to the authorities at Beckenham. Mr Coddington's days with the Metropolitan Police had been extremely brief by this time, as he had only joined, with Warrant Number 11709, on 26th May 1836. He consequently resigned on Saturday, 9th July, to take up his appointment as Inspector of the Beckenham Police — not even two months after joining the Metropolitan Police. Two Police Constables also took up duties with the new Beckenham Police, namely Mr William Rochford and Mr Robert Matthews. Mr Matthews, Warrant Number 9508, joined the Metropolitan Police on 22nd May 1834 and also resigned on 9th July 1836 to round out the new Police Force in Beckenham.

It was not long before the Beckenham Police were tested by the unsavoury elements that now frequented the village. A few weeks after their establishment, on the night of the 27th of August, the Beckenham Police held a man in the small hexagonal shaped lockup located in a tree lined portion of the High Street at the bottom of Church Hill. The "cage", as the lockup was known, was built in 1787 and was used as a custody cell by the Beckenham Police in their day. Above the reinforced door through which the much maligned structure received its short term inhabitants was the ominous inscription:

In consequence of its occupant, a small group of miscreants, aged 15 to 30, gathered around the cage at half past eleven that night; One of the group was distributing beer from a can to the others with some of them clearly having had too much already. Inspector Coddington and Police Constable Matthews were on their rounds at that hour when they heard the uproar in the direction of the cage and hastened to investigate. On their arrival, one of the crowd asked Inspector Coddington to open the door to the cage so he might offer the prisoner some of the beer. Inspector Coddington refused the request, as well as one to join him to partake of the beer. The Inspector told him to go about his business or he would lock him up as he saw an attack on the cage was being contemplated. Upon his refusing to leave, Inspector Coddington endeavoured to take the drunkard into custody when the whole party started to close upon him with a mind to rescue their inebriated comrade.

An Inspector of the Bow Street Horse Patrol then fortuitously happened by the disturbance on his return to Croydon. Upon seeing the mob the Inspector rode up to see what was the matter, noting Inspector Coddington had the man in custody and that one of the men surrounding him had stones in his hand and another dropped some upon seeing the Inspector arrive. The addition of the Horse Patrol Inspector's presence de-escalated the situation such that the two Beckenham Policemen secured the man and his compatriots fled the scene without any further commotion. Five of those who took flight were later taken into custody and committed to Maidstone gaol to await their trial. They were found guilty of assault on Inspector Coddington in the execution of his duty and sentenced to hard labour.

In addition to their wages, the Beckenham Police had the opportunity to supplement their income through additional duties such as serving warrants and delivering prisoners. One such opportunity came on the 14th May 1837, at five o'clock in the evening, when a member of the public turned over to Inspector Coddington a man fitting the description of the suspect in the recent murder of a barmaid in the neighbourhood of Regent's Park. Inspector Coddington took the man into custody, conducted a thorough search of his person and immediately brought him before Alderman Wilson for a preliminary examination. The Alderman found the contradictions in the man's story enough to his satisfaction that he should be put before the magistrates of the district in which the murder was committed. Inspector Coddington conveyed the suspect to a Superintendent of the 'A' Division of the Metropolitan Police and subsequently to the Albany Street Police Station on his orders. Upon completing his testimony in the matter the following day, he applied for the payment of his expenses but the magistrate indicated there was no fund from which to draw them and suggested he should wait on Alderman Wilson back in Beckenham who would address the matter.

Violence against the Beckenham Policemen occurred on subsequent occasions including on the night of the 5th of June, 1837. Shortly after eleven o'clock Inspector Coddington and the two Beckenham Police Constables, Rochford and Matthews, were approached whilst on duty and informed of two drunken men making a disturbance. After they came upon the men and took them into custody, while endeavouring to get them to the cage, one of the men knocked down Police Constable Rochford and kicked him in the mouth and side. The Beckenham Police Officers were eventually successful in securing their charges and the men were later found guilty of assault on the Police Constable and sentenced to four and six months, respectively, in the house of correction. Inspector Coddington and Police Constable Matthew were also assaulted and beaten in the execution of their duty by a twenty-six year old man in January of 1839. At his trial, after entering a guilty plea, the prisoner was sentenced to three months' hard labour.

Although there were clearly isolated incidents to the contrary, it was recognised the turnaround in Beckenham brought about by its Police Officers was dramatic, generally driving the criminal element beyond their borders as it was soon the neighbouring parish of Bromley and other parishes, complaining it was unfair to them as they were overwhelmed by the thieves and vagrants who were expelled from Beckenham.

The Beckenham Policemen continued to carry out their duties in an effective manner until the passage of the Metropolitan Police Act, 1839, necessitated a change in the policing arrangements. The Act received the Royal Assent on 17th August of 1839 and paved the way to a further extension of the Metropolitan Police District to a fifteen mile radius from London, as centred at Charing Cross. The Act ended the authority of all the other police in London such as the Bow Street Horse Patrol and the Thames River Police; only the City of London Police were excepted. With the extension of the 'R', or Greenwich Division, of the Metropolitan Police on 13th January 1840 to the neighbouring parts of Kent, including Beckenham, and to Lewisham, Woolwich, Charlton, and Eltham, it brought an end to the Beckenham Police. None of the Beckenham Police went on to re-join the Metropolitan Police when their positions at Beckenham came to a close.