Avon and Somerset
| Avon and Somerset Constabulary | |
|---|---|
Badge of the Avon and Somerset Constabulary
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| Agency overview | |
| Formed | April, 1974 |
| Preceding agencies | |
| Employees | 5996 |
| Volunteers | 428 |
| Annual budget | £280 million -(2012–13) |
| Legal personality | Governmental: Government agency |
| Jurisdictional structure | |
| Operations jurisdiction* | Police area of Avon and Somerset in the country of England, UK |
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| Map of police area | |
| Size | 1,855 square miles (4,800 km2) |
| Population | 1.5 million |
| Legal jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Constituting instrument | Police Act 1964 |
| General nature | |
| Operational structure | |
| Overviewed by | Independent Police Complaints Commission/Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary |
| Headquarters | Portishead |
| Constabless | 3,398 |
| PCSOss | 381 |
| Police and Crime Commissioner responsible | Sue Mountstevens |
| Agency executives |
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| Child agency | SouthWest one |
| Divisions | 6 |
| Facilities | |
| Stations | 39 |
| Airbases | Filton Airport |
| Police cars | 660 |
| Police motorcycles | 28 |
| Helicopters | 1 Eurocopter EC135 |
| Website | |
| www.avonandsomerset.police.uk | |
| Footnotes | |
| * Police area agency: Prescribed geographic area in the country, over which the agency has usual operational jurisdiction. | |
Avon and Somerset Constabulary is the territorial police force in England responsible for policing the non-metropolitan county of Somerset and the now-defunct county of Avon, which includes the city and county of Bristol and the unitary authorities of Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.
The first police force in England was formed in Covent Garden by Somerset born novelist Henry Fielding, in 1748. In 1835, Bristol and Bath became the first to create their own police forces in the county itself, after that year's Municipal Corporations Act. The original Bristol constabulary had 232 officers issued with a top hat, blue coat and white trousers. this constabulary began certain practices that were eventually adopted country-wide, including recruiting female officers (with 13 on patrol by 1918) and photographing prisoners. Bridgwater and Chard followed with their own constabularies in 1839, with all forces being merged into the Somerset Constabulary in 1940, under the County Police Act.
The force as it is today was created on 1 April 1974, the same day as Avon, from a merger of the Bristol City Police, the Somerset and Bath Constabulary, and the Staple Hill division of Gloucestershire Constabulary. It was the only force to provide a mounted escort for the Queen during her Royal Jubilee tour of Bristol in 1977.
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