Warwickshire Police | |
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Logo of the Warwickshire Police
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Agency overview | |
Formed | 1840 |
Employees | 1,799 |
Volunteers | 208 |
Annual budget | £80.1 million |
Legal personality | Governmental: Government agency |
Jurisdictional structure | |
Operations jurisdiction* | Police area of Warwickshire in the country of England, UK |
Map of Warwickshire Police's jurisdiction. | |
Size | 762 square miles (1,970 km2) |
Population | 552,000 |
Legal jurisdiction | England & Wales |
Constituting instrument | Police Act 1996 |
General nature | |
Operational structure | |
Headquarters | Leek Wootton |
Constables | 805 (of which 300 are special constables) |
Police Community Support Officers | 133 |
Police and Crime Commissioner responsible | Ron Ball |
Agency executive | Martin Jelley, Chief Constable |
Districts/Boroughs | 2 districts and 3 boroughs |
Facilities | |
Stations | 15 |
Website | |
www.warwickshire.police.uk | |
Footnotes | |
* Police area agency: Prescribed geographic area in the country, over which the agency has usual operational jurisdiction. |
Warwickshire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing Warwickshire in England. It was known as Warwickshire Constabulary until 2001. It is the second smallest territorial police force in England and Wales after the City of London Police, with only 998.6 (full-time equivalents) regular officers as of December 2006. The resident population of the force area is 552,000.
The force was established in 1840 as Warwickshire Constabulary. It did not, however, even cover all the rural areas of the county until 1857. Birmingham, Coventry, Leamington Spa, Stratford-upon-Avon and Warwick originally had their own police forces. The Warwickshire force absorbed Warwick Borough Police in 1875 and Stratford-upon-Avon Borough Police in 1889 with Leamington Borough Police lasting until 1946. In 1969, Coventry City Police amalgamated with Warwickshire Constabulary and the force became Warwickshire and Coventry Constabulary. However, with the inclusion of Coventry in the new county of the West Midlands in 1974, Coventry passed to the new West Midlands Police, which also took over the areas of the Birmingham City Police and part of the northwestern area of Warwickshire (around Solihull and Sutton Coldfield). Warwickshire Constabulary reverted to its old name.
Under proposals announced by the then Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, on 6 February 2006, Warwickshire Police would have merged with Staffordshire Police, West Mercia Constabulary and West Midlands Police to form a single strategic force for the West Midlands region. These proposals were subsequently abandoned.