Police Gazette (UK)

The Police Gazette; or, Hue and Cry

The front page of Police Gazette or Hue and Cry 6 August 1831
Type	Newspaper
Owner(s)	College of Policing Home Office
Founded	1772-?
Headquarters	London

The Police Gazette; or, Hue and Cry, also known as The Police Gazette and Hue and Cry, is a bi-monthly publication produced by the College of Policing in London. It was originally a weekly newspaper produced by the Home Office and the Metropolitan Police Service from 1772. Its primary purpose is to publish notices of wanted criminals with requests for information, and where appropriate to offer rewards.

The Quarterly Pursuit was first issued by John Fielding, chief magistrate of the Bow Street Police Court, in 1772. It was distributed free until 1793, when the following announcement was made:

Hue and Cry, and Police Gazette, Has for many Years been sent, gratis, by the Chief Magistrate in Bow-Street, to the Principal Acting Justices of the Peace and other Persons connected with the Administration of Criminal Justice in different parts of England. It has been thought that this Paper would conduce more to the Design of its first Institution, if it was made more generally Public; which cannot be done, without exposing it to Sale, like the London Gazette and other Newspapers, it has accordingly been determined, that in future it shall be sold by the Hawkers and other Newscarriers in Town and Country, at the usual Price of other Newspapers. The Hue and Cry is at present published Every Other Saturday.

The publication was repeatedly renamed, first to Public Hue and Cry. It became The Hue and Cry, and Police Gazette on 30 September 1797. It was renamed to Police Gazette; or, Hue and Cry on 18 January 1828. It became simply The Police Gazette on 1 April 1839.

Responsibility for its production rested with the Home Office. Editing was delegated to the Chief Clerk to Bow Street Magistrates Court, notably John Alexander (chief clerk) who edited the Police Gazette from 1877 until 1895. Responsibility for the Police Gazette was transferred to the Metropolitan Police ('Scotland Yard') in 1883.

In recent years, responsibility for publication transferred to the National Police Improvement Agency (NPIA), and then subsequently to the College of Policing.

The purpose of the publication was stated on the front page in 1831 as follows: