Gloucestershire Constabulary

Gloucestershire Constabulary

Logo of the Gloucestershire Constabulary
Agency overview
Formed 1839
Employees 2,271[1]
Volunteers 143[1]
Annual budget £95.7 million[1]
Legal personality Governmental: Government agency
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction* Police area of Gloucestershire in the country of England, UK
Map of police area
Size 1,025 square miles (2,650 km2)
Population 564,000
Legal jurisdiction England & Wales
Constituting instrument Police Act 1996
General nature
Operational structure
Headquarters Quedgeley
Constables

1,198 (of which 176 are Special Constables)

[2]
Police Community Support Officers 162[1]
Police and Crime Commissioner responsible Martin Surl
Agency executive Suzette Davenport, Chief Constable
Local Policing Areas

Forest
Gloucester
Cheltenham
Tewkesbury

Cotswolds
Stroud
Website
www.gloucestershire.police.uk
Footnotes
* Police area agency: Prescribed geographic area in the country, over which the agency has usual operational jurisdiction.
Gloucestershire Constabulary vehicle

Gloucestershire Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing the non-metropolitan county of Gloucestershire in England, (South Gloucestershire is covered by Avon and Somerset Constabulary).

History

The force was founded in 1839, six hours after Wiltshire Constabulary, making it the second rural police force formed in Britain. The force in its present form dates from 1 April 1974, when the southern part of Gloucestershire became part of the County of Avon and thus of the newly formed Avon and Somerset Constabulary.

In 1965, the force had an establishment of 1,010 and an actual strength of 867.[3]

Structure

As of 1 April 2011, under the new structure, policing in the county is delivered through 6 Local Policing Areas: Cheltenham, Gloucester, Forest of Dean, Cotswolds, Stroud and Tewkesbury.
Within the 6 Local Policing Areas there are 9 Local Policing Teams covering 55 communities: 2 each in Cheltenham, Gloucester and Stroud and 1 in Tewkesbury, the Forest and the Cotswolds.

The force currently consists of 6 Local Policing Areas each of these LPA's is commanded by a Superintendent.

Officers killed in the line of duty

The Police Roll of Honour Trust lists and commemorates all British police officers killed in the line of duty. The Police Memorial Trust since its establishment in 1984 has erected over 38 memorials to some of those officers.

Since 1817 the following officers of Gloucestershire Constabulary were killed while attempting to prevent or stop a crime in progress:[4]

Investigations

In 2015, Gloucestershire police were able to show using biomechanical evidence that Robert Nowak was the driver of a car involved in a crash in 2013 in which his friend Michal Sobolak was killed. Nowak was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and 7 years disqualification from driving, for Death by Dangerous Driving, Conspiring to Pervert the Course of Justice and Driving whilst Disqualified.[5][6][7]

Controversy

Race and sex discrimination in recruitment

In November 2006, a tribunal ruled that the constabulary had illegally discriminated against 108 white male candidates it had rejected from its recruitment process solely because of their race and gender. Matt Powell, one of the "randomly deselected" candidates took legal action and was awarded £2,500 compensation. The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) and the Equal Opportunities Commission who led the investigation stated that the Gloucestershire Police had unlawfully discriminated on the grounds of race and gender.[8][9]

Cheese rolling

In 2013, Gloucestershire police warned Diana Smart against supplying cheese for the annual cheese rolling event.[10] Smart described the warning as "crackers".

Photography in public places

In a video recording made by a member of the public who was taking photographs in a public place, an officer of Gloucestershire Constabulary was seen threatening to arrest the photographer, ordering him to delete the photographs taken, and asserting that it was illegal to take photographs, according to press reports on 7 January 2014.[11][12][13][14] The officer said "you're lucky I didn't bloody knock you out!".[15][16] The incident was uploaded onto YouTube. In England there is no law against taking photographs in a public place, and no policeman may order a photographer to delete their photographs once they have been taken—to do so requires a court order.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4
  2. ↑ "Tables for 'Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2013". HM Government. Office for National Statistics. 31 March 2013. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
  3. ↑ The Thin Blue Line, Police Council for Great Britain Staff Side Claim for Undermanning Supplements, 1965
  4. ↑ Police Roll of Honour Trust. "Police Roll of Honour Trust". policememorial.org.uk.
  5. ↑ http://www.gloucestershireecho.co.uk/police-proved-Robert-Nowak-driving-Michal-Sobolak/story-26501744-detail/story.html
  6. ↑ https://www.gloucestershire.police.uk/news-room/latest-news/man-and-woman-receive-prison-sentences-for-fatal-road-traffic-collision-in-cheltenham-in-2013/
  7. ↑ http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/lying-killer-crash-motorist-jailed-5700905
  8. ↑ "Force admits rejecting white men". BBC News. 22 September 2006. Retrieved 3 April 2011.
  9. ↑ "Police force admits discriminating against white recruits". London: Daily Mail. 22 September 2006. Retrieved 3 April 2011.
  10. ↑ "Has the world gone crackers? How THREE police officers went to grandmother's farm just to warn her NOT to make massive Double Gloucester for annual cheese rolling event". Daily Mail (London).
  11. ↑ de Bruxelles, S (8 January 2014). ""Officer ‘threatened to make life hell’ for crash photographer"". The Times. Retrieved 2016-04-03.
  12. ↑ Arkell, H. (7 January 2014). ""‘We’ll nick you now and I will make your day a living hell, 'cause you’ll be in that cell all day’: Police officer swore and threatened to lock man up for photographing crash scene"". Daily Mail. Retrieved 2016-04-03.
  13. ↑ "Video: Abusive police sergeant Tony Wallace receives offical warning by Gloucestershire Police after accident confrontation (From Stroud News and Journal)". Stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk. 2014-03-28. Retrieved 2016-04-03.
  14. ↑ "Video: Abusive policeman threatens to make photographer's day 'a living hell'". Telegraph. 2014-01-07. Retrieved 2016-04-03.
  15. ↑ "VIDEO: Police officer threatens to make man's day a "living hell" for taking photos - Video - Duncan Garner - Shows". RadioLIVE. Retrieved 2016-04-03.
  16. ↑ "Police officer investigated after telling photographer: 'You're lucky I didn't knock you out'". Itv.com. 2014-01-09. Retrieved 2016-04-03.

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