Notables
People	Rev. Dr. Richard Armitage, for Force Chaplain Andy Tatam, for T/Assistant Chief Constable
Significant Display Events	Wiltshire Emergency Services Show

Website

www.wiltshire.police.uk

Footnotes

* Police area agency: Prescribed geographic area in the country, over which the agency has usual operational jurisdiction.

Notables
People	Rev. Dr. Richard Armitage, for Force Chaplain Andy Tatam, for T/Assistant Chief Constable
Significant Display Events	Wiltshire Emergency Services Show

1,050 (of which 296 are special constables)

Wiltshire Police, formerly known as the Wiltshire Constabulary, is the territorial police force responsible for policing Wiltshire and Swindon in the south-west of England.

Before 1839, policing in Wiltshire was the responsibility of petty and parish constables, who were supervised by magistrates. This was largely ineffective as they were unpaid and untrained. Independent and private forces, such as the Devizes Prosecution Society, emerged and continued to operate after Wiltshire Police was formed.

The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 meant that Salisbury Borough was formed and was required to have an official city force, that would replace the local force: New Sarum Police. The Salisbury City Police was founded in 1836 and continued to operate separately from Wiltshire Police until World War II when the two were temporarily amalgamated; however, after the war ended the separation never occurred and Salisbury City Police ceased to exist. The official handover took place on 1 April 1943.

In 1839, several groups of labourers rioted in many parts of the county over the price of food and the introduction of new farm equipment that was taking their jobs; they started fires and destroyed farm equipment. In response to the 225 incidents, residents of Wiltshire called for the formation of a police force similar to Robert Peel's Metropolitan Police force, whose 'A' division had visited in 1836 to help control riots. When the County Police Act 1839 was introduced, Wiltshire leapt at the chance to form a police force. As a result Wiltshire Constabulary was established on Wednesday 13 November 1839 at The Bear Hotel, Devizes and was the first county police force to be formed, beating Gloucestershire by a few hours.

The first Chief Constable was Captain Samuel Meredith RN who placed an advertisement in the local paper to recruit 200 constables who were paid 17/6d a week. New constables were given their uniform and an instruction booklet and then sent off to work without any training or guidance. It wasn't until 1843 (and later 1855) that they were given training. Wiltshire Constabulary started operating from January 1840 and had filled almost all its posts by summertime. The Chief Constable spent the first months of his time visiting all the boroughs in Wiltshire, spending almost all his £400 salary on travel. The first ranks were only Constable and Superintendent, but Sergeant, Inspector, Detectives and five classes of Constable were later introduced.

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Wikipedia