Essex Police
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Essex Police | |
| Image:EnglandPoliceEssex.png Essex Police area | |
| Coverage | |
|---|---|
| Area | Essex |
| Size | 1,415 square miles |
| Population | 1.6 million |
| Operations | |
| Formed | |
| HQ | Chelmsford |
| Budget | {{{budget}}} |
| Officers | 3,230 |
| Divisions | 9 |
| Stations | 47 |
| Chief Constable | Roger Baker |
| Image:Essexpolice.gif | |
| Website | http://www.essex.police.uk |
Essex Police is a Home Office (territorial) police force with responsibility for policing the county of Essex in the East of England.
Contents |
[edit] Organisation
The force area covers 1,400 square miles and has a population of 1,600,000. In late 2005 it had an establishment of 3,230 police officers and 1,968 police staff. The Chief Constable is Roger Baker. On the Essex Police website, Baker delivers his own personal message: "If you are planning on committing crime in Essex, bring a toothbrush"[1] Since he was put in charge of the county police force in July 2005, Baker has banned police officers from sending emails on Wednesdays to encourage face-to-face communication.[2] The force is divided into six divisions, these being South-Eastern, South-Western, Western, Central, Eastern, and Stansted Airport. There are also specialised departments such as air support and firearms which provide services to the whole force.
[edit] History
A county force was originally established under the County Police Act 1839. Its area of control did not include the south west of the county which formed part of the extended Metropolitan Police District, as part of the Metropolitan Police Act 1839. Further territory was lost in 1965 with the creation of Greater London. In 1969 the Essex force was merged with the borough force for Southend-on-Sea, becoming the Essex and Southend-on-Sea Joint Constabulary until 1974.[3] In 2000 the Metropolitan Police boundary was realigned and Essex Police gained the sections of Epping Forest district that had been in the Metropolitan Police District since 1840.
[edit] Reorganisation
Proposals made by the Home Secretary on March 20, 2006 would see the force merge with neighbouring forces Bedfordshire Police and Hertfordshire Constabulary to form a strategic police force. This was part of a national move by the government to 'regionalise' police forces, ambulance and fire services and many other local government services, like trading standards. The government has been steadily trying to move services away from counties and have them run at regional level, a move which has generally brought with it inefficiency and extra cost. To his credit, [Roger Baker] was one of the Chief Constables who most strongly opposed the government's proposals.[4] In July 2006 Prime Minister Tony Blair signalled that police force mergers will not be forced through by the central government, and given the amount of local opposition to such mergers it is not expected that any voluntary mergers will be carried out. [4] Essex Police estimated that the bill for the abortive merger plans was £169,000.[5]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] Bibliography
- The Essex Police by John Woodgate. Includes black and white plates and an appendix section that gives details of the smaller forces that went to make up Essex Police. [5]
