Port of Bristol Police | |
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Agency overview | |
Formed | 1884 |
Employees | 31 |
Jurisdictional structure | |
Operations jurisdiction | England, England |
Legal jurisdiction | Port of Bristol & 1 mile from the boundary and any specific Port Police business thereafter |
Constituting instrument | |
General nature | |
Operational structure | |
Headquarters | Royal Portbury Dock, Avon, Bristol BS20 7XQ |
Port Police Constables | 31 |
Facilities | |
Stations | 1 |
Website | |
Official Website Page |
The Port of Bristol Police (PoBP) is a ports police force with responsibility to protect the port complexes and community situated at the mouth of the River Avon on the border between Bristol and Somerset. Officers are attested under powers in legislation derived from the Harbours, Docks and Piers Clauses Act 1847.
The PoBP has existed at the Avonmouth Docks since 1884, but has been in its present form since the end of the Second World War. The PoBP in modern times is responsible for the policing and certain security measures at Avonmouth Docks, Royal Portbury Dock and the trading estates owned by The Bristol Port Company that are situated at the outskirts of the port areas.
First Corporate Shipping Limited, trading as The Bristol Port Company, is the statutory undertaker (within the meaning of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984) of the harbour area and is solely responsible for financing and employing the PoBP. [1]
The Port of Bristol Police started as The Bristol Docks Company in 1803. [2] The Bristol Docks Act 1803 created the company and provided for the improvement of the Port and Harbour of Bristol. A force of 51 men was duly appointed as constables under this act and were stationed in a police office building at Wapping Wharf, adjacent to the Bristol Dock Company office at Underfall Yard, Bristol City Docks.[ citation needed ]
In 1848 the Bristol Dock Company was taken into the ownership of Bristol City Council and began trading as the Port of Bristol Authority. It was then deemed unnecessary by the new authority to continue with the inherited police force, as Bristol had by then in 1842 formed a River Police section of the Bristol Constabulary. [3] [4] In 1877 the Bristol and Portishead Pier and Railway Company formed a small police force at Portishead Dock composed of a sergeant and six constables. A force of similar size was also formed by the Bristol Port and Channel Dock Company at Avonmouth in 1878. [5] These two dock companies were subsequently acquired by the Port of Bristol Authority in 1884 and the present Port of Bristol Police Force were then reformed from its beginnings in 1803.[ citation needed ]
The Chief Officer of the Port police is usually an Inspector or Chief Inspector and an experienced former territorial police officer. The Chief Officer is also the Port Facility Security Officer, under the International Shipping and Port Facility Security code. [6]
Whenever possible, the port police adopt a multi-agency approach to dealing with border control and other issues arising in the port area. Whilst not adopting the role of the Border Force, Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency or any other agency, the port police often act on their behalf when dealing with offenders. [7]
The PoB also has police support officers, who are not constables, but provide non-warranted uniform support to the Port Police. Their uniform is similar to Home Office PCSOs. [8]
The River Avon is a river in the southwest of England. To distinguish it from a number of other rivers of the same name, it is often called the Bristol Avon. The name 'Avon' is loaned from an ancestor of the Welsh word afon, meaning 'river'.
Portishead is a town and civil parish in the North Somerset unitary authority area, in the county of Somerset, England. With a population of 26,366 at the 2021 Census, the town is located on the Severn Estuary opposite Cardiff and Newport in Wales. The town is 8 miles (13 km) to the west of Bristol and 18 miles northeast of Weston-super-Mare.
Transit police are specialized police agencies employed either by a common carrier, such as a transit district, railway, railroad, bus line, or another mass transit provider or municipality, county, district, or state.
Avon and Somerset Police is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement in the five unitary authority areas of Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset, Somerset, and South Gloucestershire, all in South West England.
The Port of Bristol comprises the commercial, and former commercial, docks situated in and near the city of Bristol in England. The Port of Bristol Authority was the commercial title of the Bristol City, Avonmouth, Portishead and Royal Portbury Docks when they were operated by Bristol City Council, which ceased trade when the Avonmouth and Royal Portbury Docks were leased to The Bristol Port Company in 1991.
Portbury is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, within the unitary authority of North Somerset. The parish includes the hamlet Sheepway, which is situated on moorland at the northern edge of the Gordano valley, between the Gordano services on the M5 motorway and Portishead, near the Royal Portbury Dock. The parish has a population of 827.
The Royal Portbury Dock is part of the Port of Bristol, in England. It is situated near the village of Portbury on the southern side of the mouth of the Avon, where the river joins the Severn estuary — the Avonmouth Docks are on the opposite side of the Avon, within Avonmouth. The deepwater dock was constructed between 1972 and 1977, and is now a major port for the import of motor vehicles into the UK. The M5 motorway runs nearby, and the huge car storage compounds around the dock are visible from the Avonmouth Bridge. A waste industrial area west of the port is being developed as the Portbury Ashlands Nature Reserve.
The Belfast Harbour Police is a small, specialised ports police force, with responsibility for the Port of Belfast, Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1847, making it the oldest continuously-operating law enforcement agency on the island of Ireland.
The Avonmouth Docks are part of the Port of Bristol, in England. They are situated on the northern side of the mouth of the River Avon, opposite the Royal Portbury Dock on the southern side, where the river joins the Severn estuary, within Avonmouth.
The Port of Dover Police (PoDP) is a non-Home Office ports police force which provides a 24-hour policing service to the Port of Dover, Kent, England.
Falmouth Docks Police is non-Home Office ports police force whose primary role is security of Falmouth Docks. As of 2007 the constabulary numbered just four constables.
The Port of Felixstowe Police is a non-Home Office ports police force established in 1975, responsible for policing the Port of Felixstowe in Felixstowe, Suffolk, United Kingdom.
Tees and Hartlepool Harbour Police are a non-Home Office ports police force responsible for Teesport, which is the UK's third largest port and is owned by PD Ports, situated along the south bank of the River Tees in north east England. The harbour police force is over 100 years old and was originally formed under the Harbour, Docks and Piers Clauses Act 1847.
The Portishead Railway is a branch line railway running from Portishead in North Somerset to the main line immediately west of Bristol, England. It was constructed by the Bristol & Portishead Pier and Railway Company, but it was always operated by its main line neighbour, and was more usually thought of as the Portishead branch or the Portishead railway.
The Bristol Port Railway and Pier was a railway in Bristol, England.
The Port of Portland Police is a non-Home Office ports police force responsible for the Port of Portland in Dorset, United Kingdom.