Gloucestershire Constabulary

Gloucestershire Constabulary

Logo of the Gloucestershire Constabulary
Agency overview
Formed 1839
Employees 2,271[1]
Volunteers 143[1]
Annual budget £95.7 million[1]
Legal personality Governmental: Government agency
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction* Police area of Gloucestershire in the country of England, UK
Map of police area
Size 1,025 square miles (2,650 km2)
Population 564,000
Legal jurisdiction England & Wales
Constituting instrument Police Act 1996
General nature
Operational structure
Headquarters Quedgeley
Constables 1,198 (of which 176 are special constables)[2]
Police community support officers 162[1]
Police and Crime Commissioner responsible Martin Surl
Agency executive Suzette Davenport, Chief constable
Local Policing Areas

Forest
Gloucester
Cheltenham
Tewkesbury

Cotswolds
Stroud
Website
www.gloucestershire.police.uk
Footnotes
* Police area agency: Prescribed geographic area in the country, over which the agency has usual operational jurisdiction.
Gloucestershire Constabulary vehicle

Gloucestershire Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing the non-metropolitan county of Gloucestershire in England (South Gloucestershire is covered by Avon and Somerset Constabulary).

History

The force was founded in 1839, six hours after Wiltshire Constabulary, making it the second rural police force formed in Britain. The force in its present form dates from 1 April 1974, when the southern part of Gloucestershire became part of the County of Avon and thus of the newly formed Avon and Somerset Constabulary.

In 1965, the force had an establishment of 1,010 and an actual strength of 867.[3]

Structure

As of 1 April 2011, under the new structure, policing in the county is delivered through six Local Policing Areas: Cheltenham, Gloucester, Forest of Dean, Cotswolds, Stroud and Tewkesbury. Each of these areas is commanded by a superintendent.

Within the six areas there are nine Local Policing Teams covering 55 communities: two each in Cheltenham, Gloucester and Stroud and one in Tewkesbury, the Forest and the Cotswolds.

Officers killed in the line of duty

The Police Roll of Honour Trust lists and commemorates all British police officers killed in the line of duty. The Police Memorial Trust since its establishment in 1984 has erected over 38 memorials to some of those officers.

Since 1817 the following officers of Gloucestershire Constabulary were killed while attempting to prevent or stop a crime in progress:[4]

Investigations

In 2015, Gloucestershire police were able to show using biomechanical evidence that Robert Nowak was the driver of a car involved in a crash in 2013 in which his friend Michal Sobolak was killed. Nowak was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment and 7 years' disqualification from driving, for Death by Dangerous Driving, Conspiring to Pervert the Course of Justice and Driving whilst Disqualified.[5][6][7]

Controversy

Race and sex discrimination in recruitment

In November 2006, a tribunal ruled that the constabulary had illegally discriminated against 108 white male candidates it had rejected from its recruitment process solely because of their race and gender. Matt Powell, one of the "randomly deselected" candidates, took legal action and was awarded £2,500 compensation. The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) and the Equal Opportunities Commission who led the investigation stated that the Gloucestershire Police had unlawfully discriminated on the grounds of race and gender.[8][9]

Photography in public places

Following a traffic collision a photographer was initially asked to stop taking photographs of the accident scene whilst a victim was being removed from a vehicle. During a highly charged discussion the photographer made a video recording of part of his interaction with the officer during which, an officer of Gloucestershire Constabulary was seen threatening to arrest the photographer, ordering him to delete the photographs taken, and asserting that it was illegal to take photographs, according to press reports on 7 January 2014.[10][11][12] The officer said "you're lucky I didn't bloody knock you out!".[13][14] The incident was uploaded onto YouTube. In England there is no law against taking photographs in a public place, and no policeman may order a photographer to delete their photographs once they have been taken—to do so requires a court order.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4
  2. ↑ "Tables for 'Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2013". HM Government. Office for National Statistics. 31 March 2013. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
  3. ↑ The Thin Blue Line, Police Council for Great Britain Staff Side Claim for Undermanning Supplements, 1965
  4. ↑ Police Roll of Honour Trust. "Police Roll of Honour Trust". policememorial.org.uk.
  5. ↑ "Latest Gloucestershire Cheltenham news - Gloucestershire Live". Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  6. ↑ "Man and woman receive prison sentences for fatal road traffic collision in Cheltenham in 2013". Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  7. ↑ Shammas, John (15 May 2015). "Police prove lying driver killed his friend - by using Virtual Reality". Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  8. ↑ "Force admits rejecting white men". BBC News. 22 September 2006. Retrieved 3 April 2011.
  9. ↑ "Police force admits discriminating against white recruits". London: Daily Mail. 22 September 2006. Retrieved 3 April 2011.
  10. ↑ de Bruxelles, S (8 January 2014). ""Officer ‘threatened to make life hell’ for crash photographer"". The Times. Retrieved 2016-04-03.
  11. ↑ "Video: Abusive police sergeant Tony Wallace receives offical [sic] warning by Gloucestershire Police after accident confrontation". Stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk. 2014-03-28. Retrieved 2016-04-03.
  12. ↑ "Video: Abusive policeman threatens to make photographer's day 'a living hell'". Telegraph. 2014-01-07. Retrieved 2016-04-03.
  13. ↑ "VIDEO: Police officer threatens to make man's day a "living hell" for taking photos - Video - Duncan Garner - Shows". RadioLIVE. Retrieved 2016-04-03.
  14. ↑ "Police officer investigated after telling photographer: 'You're lucky I didn't knock you out'". Itv.com. 2014-01-09. Retrieved 2016-04-03.
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