Area covered |
|
| Area | Dumfries and Galloway |
|---|---|
| Size | 6,426 km² |
| Population | 148,000 |
| Operations | |
| Formed | 1948 (merger) |
| HQ | Dumfries |
| Officers | 508 + 106 Special Constables |
| Divisions | 2 |
| Stations | 19 |
| Chief Constable | Patrick Shearer QPM |
| Website | www.dumfriesandgalloway.police.uk |
Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for the council area of Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland.
The police force was formed in 1948 as an amalgamation of the police forces of Dumfriesshire, Kirkcudbrightshire, and Wigtownshire, and preceded the creation of the former Dumfries and Galloway Regional Council by 27 years.[1]
The current Chief Constable is Patrick Shearer QPM. Shearer was appointed on 24 April 2007,[2] in succession to his predecessor David Strang who was made Chief Constable of Lothian and Borders Police.[3] The current Deputy Chief Constable is George Graham, who took over from Robert Ovens QPM on 1 January 2006.[4]
On 21 December 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 exploded mid-air as a result of a bomb onboard, and the wreckage crashed in the town of Lockerbie, within the police area of Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary. In the UK, the event is referred to as the "Lockerbie air disaster", the "Lockerbie bombing", or simply "Lockerbie". Eleven townspeople were killed in Sherwood Crescent, where the plane's wings and fuel tanks plummeted in a fiery explosion, leaving a huge crater. The 270 fatalities (259 on the plane, 11 in Lockerbie) included citizens of 21 nations.
The subsequent police investigation, led by Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary, was the largest ever mounted in Scottish history and became a murder inquiry when evidence of a bomb was found. Two men accused of being Libyan intelligence agents were eventually charged in 1991 with planting the bomb. It took a further nine years to bring the accused to trial. Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was jailed for life in January 2001 following an 84-day trial, which was held at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands, but under Scottish law.[5] On 20 August 2009, al-Megrahi was freed on humanitarian grounds because of an apparent terminal prostate cancer.[6]