Area covered |
|
| Area | Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Powys unitary authority areas |
|---|---|
| Population | Approx 500,000 |
| Operations | |
| Formed | 1968 |
| HQ | Carmarthen |
| Officers | 1,183 |
| Divisions | 4 |
| Stations | 45 as of 2011 |
| Chief Constable | Ian Arundale |
| Website | www.dyfed-powys.police.uk |
Dyfed-Powys Police (Welsh: Heddlu Dyfed Powys) is the territorial police force responsible for policing Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire (which make up Dyfed) and the county of Powys, in Wales. The territory it covers is the largest police area in England and Wales, and the fourth largest in the United Kingdom. The force's headquarters are located in the town of Carmarthen.
The force was formed in 1968, with the merger of the Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire Constabulary, Pembrokeshire Constabulary and the Mid Wales Constabulary.
The Dyfed-Powys region has over 350 miles of coastline and many remote rural communities - yet also a number of old industrial areas that are currently experiencing significant change and redevelopment.
Despite the size of the area, the population is under 500,000, although it is boosted each year with large tourist numbers. The small population is reflected in the number of employees; 1,183 full-time officers (of whom 905 are of the rank of constable).[1] The force currently have 167 Special Constables and 25 Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs). It is the third smallest police force in England and Wales, in terms of number of officers, after Warwickshire Police and the City of London Police.
Contents |
Under proposals made by the Home Secretary Charles Clarke on 6 February 2006, it was proposed to merge Dyfed-Powys Police with North Wales Police, South Wales Police and Gwent Police, to form a single strategic force for all of Wales.[2] Following fierce opposition to the proposed changes from many quarters (including the police themselves) during the summer of 2006, the new Home Secretary John Reid abandoned the proposed restructuring of the police service in England and Wales.
In 2010 it was announced that most UK Public Services would be subject to budget cuts over the next five years. Dyfed-Powys Police is one of these public services faced with this problem and must find savings of £34m between now and 2015, and £13m in each subsequent year. Chief Constable Ian Arundale warned that there was going to be a "significant impact" on the front line.
Mr Arundale said he accepted that cuts had to be made in the Dyfed-Powys force area and hoped to achieve this through natural wastage and voluntary redundancies.[3]
Though in 2011, the police service announced the recruitment of 39 new officers, 18 Police Constables and 21 Special Constables. Showing commitment to it's communities it serves during difficult financial times[4]
From March 2000 to until 19 November 2007 the Chief Constable was Terry Grange. Following a complaint, and during an investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) into financial irregularities, Grange retired with immediate effect. Dyfed-Powys Police Authority said it had accepted with regret his retirement with immediate effect, adding that Grange "had indicated that he had allowed his private life to interfere with his professional role. This has led the police authority to consider the chief constable's position and it was considered to be appropriate to accept his retirement."[5] The IPCC continues its investigation.[6] In newspapers of the 25 November, it emerged that Mr Grange was accused of letting his personal relationship with a judge interfere with the force’s handling of child abuse claims against the judge - Mr Grange was the ACPO spokes person on child abuse issues.[7]
Dyfed-Powys Police service, through late 2010 and early 2011 has been re-structuring its Special Constabulary; The Special Constabulary is the part-time volunteer section. Its officers are known as Special Constables (all hold the office of Constable no matter what their rank) or informally as Specials[8]. It has become known to many organisations as well as the police that volunteers are best managed by volunteers, so this new command and rank structure has been designed with that in mind, to boost the effectiveness of the Special Constabulary.
With this re-structuring, there have been many new appointments, these include the following:
and then we go on to the Specials themselves:
With this restructuring, Dyfed-Powys Police is the first Police service in Wales to adopt the National Policing Improvement Agencies(NPIA)National Recruitment Standards for Special Constables. Also the training for Special Constables has improved and now is similar to that of a regular Police Constable in its structure and time frame. [10]