Police area

Last updated

A police area is the area for which a territorial police force in the United Kingdom is responsible for policing.

Contents

Every location in the United Kingdom has a designated territorial police force with statutory responsibility for providing policing services and enforcing criminal law, which is set out in the various police areas below. Special police forces and other non-territorial constabularies do not have police areas and their respective specialist areas of responsibility are shared with the relevant geographic territorial police force.

Ultimately the chief officer of a territorial police force has primacy over all law enforcement within his police area [1] even if it is within the remit of a special police force such as the British Transport Police on the railway infrastructure, the Ministry of Defence Police on MOD property or a port constabulary on a port. [2]

History

The Metropolitan Police District was the first example of a police area. Police areas were introduced with the passage of the Police Act 1964 and Police (Scotland) Act 1967, when a number of small (mainly county borough) police forces were merged with county ones.

The current system of police areas in England and Wales is set out by Section 1 of the Police Act 1996.

There are 43 police areas in England and Wales, most of which are defined by Schedule 1 of the 1996 act. They may be altered by order of the Home Secretary. [3] The two other areas, the Metropolitan Police District and the City of London police area, are defined by Section 76 of the London Government Act 1963 and the City of London Police Act 1839 respectively.

Northern Ireland and Scotland each have only one territorial police force: the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and Police Service of Scotland.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metropolitan Police</span> Territorial police force of Greater London

The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), historically and still widely known as the Metropolitan Police, serves as the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and crime prevention within the ceremonial county of Greater London. In addition, it is responsible for specialised tasks throughout the United Kingdom, such as UK counter-terrorism measures and the protection of certain individuals, including the monarch and other members of the royal family, governmental officials, and other designated figures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Transport Police</span> Police force responsible for railways in England, Wales and Scotland

British Transport Police is a national special police force that polices the railway network of England, Wales and Scotland. The force polices more than 10,000 miles of track and more than 3,000 stations and depots.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Law enforcement in the United Kingdom</span> Police in the United Kingdom

Law enforcement in the United Kingdom is organised separately in each of the legal systems of the United Kingdom: England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Most law enforcement duties are carried out by those who hold the office of police constable of a territorial police force.

A police authority in the United Kingdom is a public authority that is responsible for overseeing the operations of a police force. The nature and composition of police authorities has varied over time, and there are now just four dedicated "police authorities" in the United Kingdom, although the term can refer to various similar successor bodies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chief constable</span> Police officer rank in the United Kingdom

Chief Constable is the rank used by the chief police officer of every territorial police force in the United Kingdom except for the City of London Police and the Metropolitan Police, as well as the chief officers of the three 'special' national police forces, the British Transport Police, Ministry of Defence Police, and Civil Nuclear Constabulary. The title is also held by the chief officers of the principal Crown Dependency police forces and the Sovereign Base Areas Police in Cyprus. The title was also held, ex officio, by the president of the Association of Chief Police Officers under the Police Reform Act 2002. It was also the title of the chief officer of the Royal Parks Constabulary until this agency was disbanded in 2004.

Police ranks are a system of hierarchical relationships in police organisations. The rank system defines authority and responsibility in a police organisation, and affects the culture within the police force. Usually, uniforms denote the bearer's rank by particular insignia affixed to the uniforms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Special Constabulary</span> British volunteer police force

The Special Constabulary is the part-time volunteer section of statutory police forces in the United Kingdom and some Crown dependencies. Its officers are known as special constables.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cambridgeshire Constabulary</span> English territorial police force

Cambridgeshire Constabulary is the local territorial police force that covers the county of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough unitary authority. It provides law enforcement and security for an area of 1,311 square miles (3,400 km2) and population of 856,000 people, in a predominantly rural county. The force of Cambridgeshire includes the cities of Cambridge, Ely and Peterborough, the market towns of Chatteris, Huntingdon, March, Ramsey, St Ives, St Neots, Whittlesey, and town and Port of Wisbech. Its emblem is a crowned Brunswick star containing the heraldic badge of Cambridgeshire County Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Civil Nuclear Constabulary</span> UK specialized police force

The Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC) is a special police force responsible for providing law enforcement and security at any relevant nuclear site and for security of nuclear materials in transit within the United Kingdom. The force has over 1,500 police officers and support staff. Officers within the force are authorised firearms officers due to the nature of the industry the force protects.

County police, often called county sheriffs in the United States, are police forces existing primarily in the United States that possess primary jurisdiction over an entire county. England and Wales, two constituent countries of the United Kingdom, are policed by territorial police forces which are largely formed on a county basis. Historically, Northern Ireland and Scotland, the other two constituent countries of the UK, have had county police, although both countries now have unified national police services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Staffordshire Police</span> British Home Office Constabulary

Staffordshire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent in the West Midlands of England. It is made up of 11 local policing teams, whose boundaries are matched to the nine local authorities within Staffordshire.

Police uniforms and equipment in the United Kingdom vary enormously per force or service, and different uniforms and equipment is used for different situations. Both what is worn and what is carried have varied considerably from the inception of the earliest recognisable mainstream police services in the early 19th century. As various laws in the mid-19th century standardised policing in the United Kingdom, so too were uniforms and equipment. From a variety of home grown uniforms, bicycles, swords and pistols the British police force evolved in look and equipment through the long coats and top hat, to the recognisable modern uniform of a white shirt, black tie, reflective jackets, body armour, and the battenburg-marked vehicles, to the present-day Airwave Solutions radios, electric vehicles and tasers.

A territorial police force is a police service that is responsible for an area defined by sub-national boundaries, distinguished from other police services which deal with the entire country or a type of crime. In countries organized as federations, police responsible for individual sub-national jurisdictions are typically called state or provincial police.

This is a description of law enforcement in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Before the Republic left the union in 1922, one police force — the Royal Irish Constabulary — policed almost the whole island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of law enforcement in the United Kingdom</span>

The history of law enforcement in the United Kingdom charts the development of law enforcement in the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It spans the period from the Middle Ages, through to the development of the first modern police force in the world in the nineteenth century, and the subsequent modernisation of policing in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Special constable</span> Auxiliary or specialized law enforcement officer

A special constable or special police constable can refer to an auxiliary or part-time law enforcement officer or a person who is granted certain (special) police powers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Counter Terrorism Policing</span> UK national counter terrorism policing network

Counter Terrorism Policing is the national collaboration of police forces working to prevent, deter, and investigate terrorism in the United Kingdom.

References

  1. "Home Office Circular 028 / 2008". library.college.police.uk. Retrieved 2021-03-25.
  2. "Home Office Circular 028 / 2008". library.college.police.uk. Retrieved 2021-03-25.
  3. Section 32, Police Act 1996