Warwickshire Police

Infobox UK Police
name= Warwickshire Police
area= Warwickshire
start= 1840
population= 525,500
size= 762 square miles
officers= 1,012
title= Chief Constable
head= Keith Bristow
divname= District/Borough
divno= 2 districts and 3 boroughs
stations= 16
HQ= Leek Wootton

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web= http://www.warwickshire.police.uk

Warwickshire Police is the Home Office police force responsible for policing Warwickshire in England. It was known as Warwickshire Constabulary until 2001. It is the second smallest territorial police force in England and Wales after the City of London Police, with only 998.6 (full-time equivalents) regular officers as of December 2006. [http://www.warwickshire.police.uk/policingwarwickshire/headquarters/factfile] The resident population of the force area is 519,000.

Under proposals made by the Home Secretary on February 6, 2006, it would merge with Staffordshire Police, West Mercia Constabulary and West Midlands Police to form a single strategic force for the West Midlands region. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4685952.stm] These proposals have since been shelved, however.

Warwickshire Police was until April 2007 a partner alongside three other forces in the Central Motorway Police Group.

History

The force was established in 1840 as Warwickshire County Constabulary. It did not, however, even cover all the rural areas of the county until 1857. Birmingham, Coventry, Leamington Spa, Stratford-upon-Avon and Warwick originally had their own police forces. The Warwickshire force absorbed Warwick Borough Police in 1875 and Stratford-upon-Avon Borough Police in 1889 with Leamington Borough Police lasting until 1946. In 1969, Coventry City Police amalgamated with Warwickshire Constabulary and the force became Warwickshire and Coventry Constabulary. However, with the inclusion of Coventry in the new county of the West Midlands in 1974, Coventry passed to the new West Midlands Police, which also took over the areas of the Birmingham City Police and part of the northwestern area of Warwickshire (around Solihull and Sutton Coldfield). Warwickshire Constabulary reverted to its old name.

Organisation

The force is run by a Chief Constable (currently Keith Bristow), a Deputy Chief Constable, two Assistant Chief Constables, and a civilian Director of Finance. Its headquarters are at Woodcote, a 19th century manor house and estate in the village of Leek Wootton, which has been the force headquarters since 1949.

The county is divided into two Areas (Basic Command Units): Northern and Southern. Each is commanded by a Chief Superintendent, assisted by a Superintendent (Operations) and an Area Crime Manager (Detective Chief Inspector) in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department. Each Area is further divided into Districts/Boroughs (based on local government districts/boroughs), each commanded by a Chief Inspector (with a District Detective Inspector), and Sectors, each commanded by an Inspector. Most sectors only have a single police station, although a few have more.

**North Warwickshire Borough (HQ: Atherstone)
***Atherstone Sector
***Coleshill Sector
**Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough (HQ: Nuneaton)
***Bedworth Sector
***Nuneaton Sector
**Rugby Borough
***Rugby Sector
**Stratford-on-Avon District
***Alcester Sector (also police post at Studley)
***Stratford-upon-Avon Sector (also stations at Henley-in-Arden, Shipston-on-Stour, Southam and Wellesbourne)
**Warwick District
***Leamington Spa Sector (also police post at Whitnash)
***Warwick and Kenilworth Sector (also police posts at Lapworth and Hatton)

The current Chief Constable is Keith Bristow, who took over from John Burbeck in July 2006. Burbeck succeeded Andrew Timpson, who in turn succeeded Peter Joslin.

ee also

*List of police forces in the United Kingdom
*Policing in the United Kingdom
*Central Motorway Police Group
*Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service

External links

* [http://www.warwickshire.police.uk Warwickshire Police]