Merseyside Police

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Coverage
Merseyside Police
Merseyside Police area
Area	Merseyside
Size	647
Population	1.5 million
Operations
Formed	1974
HQ	Canning Place Liverpool
Officers	4,438
BCUs	6
Stations
Chief Constable	Bernard Hogan-Howe

Website	Merseyside Police Website

Merseyside Police is the Home Office police force responsible for policing Merseyside in North West England.

The force area is 647 square kilometres with a population of around 1.5 million. At present the force has 4,438 police officers plus over 2,000 police staff.

Merseyside Police is divided into six Basic Command Units (BCUs), one in each of the metropolitan boroughs that make up Merseyside, and two BCUs for the City of Liverpool. The BCUs are:

Liverpool North
Liverpool South
Sefton
Wirral
St Helens
Knowsley

The force came into being in 1974 when Merseyside was created, and is a successor to the Liverpool and Bootle Constabulary (itself formed in 1968), along with parts of Cheshire Constabulary and Lancashire Constabulary.

The force operates under the supervision of the Merseyside Police Authority, which is made up of nine local councillors, three magistrates and five independent members.

Under proposals made by the Home Secretary on February 6, 2006, it would merge with Cheshire Constabulary to form a strategic police force. [1]