Act of Parliament | |
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Long title | An Act to re-enact with modifications certain enactments relating to police forces in England and Wales, to amend the Police (Scotland) Act 1956, and to make further provision with respect to the police. |
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Citation | 1964 c. 48 |
Introduced by | Henry Brooke |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 10 June 1964 |
Repealed | 22 August 1996 |
Other legislation | |
Repealed by | Police Act 1996 |
Status: Repealed | |
Text of statute as originally enacted |
The Police Act 1964 (c. 48) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that updated the legislation governing police forces in England and Wales, constituted new police authorities, gave the Home Secretary new powers to supervise local constabularies, and allowed for the amalgamation of existing forces into more efficient units.
A Royal Commission on the Police had been appointed in 1960 under the chairmanship of Henry Willink to "review the constitutional position of the police throughout Great Britain".
The appointment of the commission followed two high-profile scandals involving borough police forces. These exposed problems in the relationship between the chief constable and watch committee of each borough, and disputes between central and local government over the control of local forces. In 1958, following a trial into police corruption in Brighton, the presiding judge stated that the judiciary could have no faith in police evidence until the chief constable had been replaced. [1] Brighton Watch Committee complained that they could not properly supervise the force, as they had no access to the annual report of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, which was sent to the Home Secretary. [2] In 1959, the watch committee of Nottingham suspended the city's chief constable, Athelstan Popkess, when he refused to furnish a report on his investigations into alleged corruption of councillors. [3] Details of the investigation were however leaked to the press on the eve of municipal elections. The committee were subsequently forced to reinstate Popkess when the Home Secretary, Rab Butler, threatened to withdraw central government funding. [4]
Among the particular subjects for investigation by the commission were:
The commission published its final report on 31 May 1962. This recommended an urgent review on the number and size of police areas. Among its recommendations were:
The commission noted that of 158 police forces in Great Britain, 97 had an establishment of less than 350. [6]
The Act received royal assent on 10 June 1964. [7] Among its provisions were:
On 10 July 1964, the Home Secretary, Henry Brooke, announced he would be using his powers under the Act to amalgamate the county borough forces of Luton and Northampton with the county forces of Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire respectively.
Luton's force had only been formed on 1 April, when it became a county borough, but Mr Brooke said he did not regard the continuance of its existence as in the best interests of policing efficiency. [8] The amalgamations were vigorously, but unsuccessfully, opposed by the boroughs: Luton's campaign went as far as serving a High Court writ on the Home Secretary in an attempt to stop the merger. [9]
In the meantime, the first amalgamation under the Act took place on 1 April 1965 as the result of local government reorganisation, with the formation of the Mid Anglia Constabulary.
Following a change in government at the general election, Frank Soskice became Home Secretary. In 1965 he announced that Exeter City's force would be merged with that of Devon. In addition to the Bedfordshire/Luton, Devon/Exeter, and Northamptonshire/Northampton mergers, 1966 saw the establishment of a new West Midlands Constabulary covering the county boroughs of Dudley, Walsall, Warley, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton, which had been constituted or enlarged by local government reorganisation.
On 16 May 1966, the new Home Secretary, Roy Jenkins announced that the number of police forces in England and Wales was to be reduced from 117 to 49. Where the local authorities concerned did not agree a voluntary scheme he would make a compulsory amalgamation.
† Existing combined force
The amalgamations carried out under the Act differed slightly from the original scheme announced in 1966. In Yorkshire, The North and East Riding constabularies were combined with York City Police, while the borough forces of Hull and Teesside were allowed to continue unmerged. Stockport Borough Police were amalgamated with the Cheshire Constabulary instead of with Manchester and Salford, and the scheme for a Tyneside force was dropped when the Local Government Commission's recommendations were not carried out. Instead Northumberland Constabulary was merged with the two county boroughs north of the Tyne, and Durham Constabulary absorbed those on south Tyneside.
‡ New county borough
The following territorial police forces were not subject to amalgamations under the 1964 Act:
Several of the amalgamated forces formed under the 1964 Act had short existences, as a wholesale reorganisation of local government in England and Wales outside London was carried out in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. Police areas were realigned to correspond to one or more of the non-metropolitan or metropolitan counties created by the 1972 legislation. The sections on the composition of police authorities were repealed by the Police and Magistrates' Courts Act 1994, and new authorities constituted.
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