- Bedfordshire Police
Infobox UK Police
name= Bedfordshire Police
area=Bedfordshire andLuton
start= 1966 (merger)
population= 0.6 million
size= 1,235
officers= 1,232
title= Chief Constable
head= Gillian Parker QPM
divname= Divisions
divno= 2 - Luton and County
stations= 5
HQ= Kempston
web= [http://www.bedfordshire.police.uk/ Bedfordshire Police]Bedfordshire Police, is the
Home Office police force responsible for policing theceremonial county ofBedfordshire inEngland , which includes theunitary authority ofLuton . Its headquarters are inKempston . The county had an estimated population of 582,600 in mid 2005, so the force is one of the smaller ones in England.A professional police force was established in Bedfordshire in 1839, under the
County Police Act 1839 , replacing the earlier system of electedparish constables. It initially comprised a chief constable, who was based inAmpthill , 6 superintendents and 40 constables. Constables were paid 19shilling s a week, which was nearly twice the typical wage of an agricultural labourer in the county at that time. ["History of Bedfordshire 1066-1888" (1969), Joyce Godber.] The force is now divided into two divisions covering the "county" areas of Bedfordshire and the area covered by theUnitary Authority ofLuton .There was an independent
Luton Borough Police from 1876 to 1947, and then from 1964 to 1966, when it amalgamated with Bedfordshire Constabulary, which was then known as the Bedfordshire and Luton Constabulary until 1974. In 1965, Bedfordshire Constabulary had an establishment of 497 and an actual strength of 430. ["The Thin Blue Line", Police Council for Great Britain Staff Side Claim for Undermanning Supplements, 1965]Proposals made by the
Home Secretary onMarch 20 ,2006 , would have seen Bedfordshire Police merge with neighbouring forcesHertfordshire Constabulary andEssex Police to form a strategic police force. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4825524.stm] However in July 2006 Prime MinisterTony Blair signalled that police force mergers will not be forced through by the central government, and given the amount of local opposition to such mergers it is not expected that any voluntary mergers will occur. [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/07/13/nblair13.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/07/13/ixuknews.html Blair accused of wasting police time on mergers] , "Daily Telegraph ",13 July 2006 .]In June 2007, the force received media coverage when one of its officers, PC Jon Henry, was
stab bed to death in the street inLuton town centre on11 June by aNigeria nimmigrant , Ikechukwu Tennyson Obih, who is currently on remand, charged with hismurder , along with theattempted murder s of two other men that he stabbed on the same morning in the town. [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/06/14/nluton114.xml Nigerian charged with PC's murder] ]Gallery
References
External links
* [http://www.bedfordshire.police.uk/ Official Website]
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