Gwent Police () is a

territorial police force A territorial police force is a police service that is responsible for an area defined by sub-national boundaries, distinguished from other police services which deal with the entire country or a type of crime. In countries organized as federation ...

in Wales, responsible for policing the local authority areas of

Blaenau Gwent Blaenau Gwent (; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county borough in the South East Wales, south-east of Wales. It borders the Local government in Wales, unitary authority areas of Monmouthshire and Torfaen to the east, Caerphilly County Borough ...

Caerphilly Caerphilly (, ; , ) is a town and community (Wales), community in Wales. It is situated at the southern end of the Rhymney Valley and separated from the Cardiff suburbs of Lisvane and Rhiwbina by Caerphilly Mountain. It is north of Cardiff an ...

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South East Wales, south east of Wales. It borders Powys to the north; the English counties of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire to the north and east; the Severn Estuary to the s ...

, Newport and

Torfaen Torfaen (; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county borough in the South East Wales, south-east of Wales. Torfaen is bordered by the county of Monmouthshire to the east, the City status in the United Kingdom, city of Newport, Wales, Newport to t ...

. The force was formed in 1967 by the amalgamation of Monmouthshire Constabulary and Newport Borough Police. In 1974 its area was realigned to cover the new administrative county of

Gwent Gwent may refer to: Places *Kingdom of Gwent, a post-Roman Welsh kingdom or principality which existed in various forms between about the 5th and 11th centuries, although the name continued in use later *Gwent (preserved county), a preserved count ...

, and in 1996, it was expanded again to cover the former

Rhymney Valley The Rhymney Valley () is one of the South Wales valleys, with the Rhymney River forming the border between the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire. Between 1974 and 1996 a Rhymney Valley local government district also existed (on ...

district area that had become part of the

county borough. , the force has 1,308

police officer A police officer (also called policeman or policewoman, cop, officer or constable) is a Warrant (law), warranted law employee of a police, police force. In most countries, ''police officer'' is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. ...

s, 70 special constables, 115

police community support officer A police community support officer (PCSO; ), or as written in legislation Community Support Officer (CSO; ), is a uniformed member of police staff in England and Wales, a role created by Section 38(2) of the Police Reform Act 2002, which was giv ...

s (PCSO), 40 police support volunteers (PSV), and 647 staff.

Organisation

Governance

Like most police forces in England and Wales, Gwent Police is overseen by the elected

Gwent Police and Crime Commissioner The Gwent Police and Crime Commissioner is the police and crime commissioner for the Gwent Police area, comprising Newport, Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent, Torfaen and Monmouthshire. The current commissioner is Jane Mudd, who represents the Labour ...

(PCC), who replaced the former police authority of councillors, magistrates and lay members in 2012. The PCC is currently

Jane Mudd Jane Mudd (born October 1968) is a Welsh politician for the Labour and Co-operative Party, serving as Gwent Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) since 2024, and Newport City Councillor for Malpas since 2012. She was Leader of Newport City Cou ...

Structure

Gwent Police has two local policing areas: * East – Newport and

* West –

and

These divisions are run practically independently, controlled by a

chief superintendent Chief superintendent is a senior rank in police forces, especially in those organised on the United Kingdom, British model. Rank insignia of chief superintendent File:Sa-police-chief-superintendent.png, South Australia Police File:RCMP Chief S ...

. Both contain three departments, each under a chief inspector; CID, Neighbourhood Operations (providing community officers and local response) and Neighbourhood Support (including traffic and public order teams, among other things). However, there are still some departments that cover the whole force, including the dog section, rural crime team, and training functions. The force has its headquarters at

Llantarnam Llantarnam () is a village of Cwmbran, and is a community and electoral ward in the county borough of Torfaen in south east Wales. The ward covers the same area as the community, but also includes Southville. It is equidistant from Cwmbran town c ...

Cwmbran Cwmbran ( ; , also in use as an alternative spelling in English) is a town in the county borough of Torfaen in South Wales. Lying within the Historic counties of Wales, historic boundaries of Monmouthshire (historic), Monmouthshire, Cwmbran was ...

Collaborations

Gwent Police has participated in collaborations with other agencies to improve service and reduce costs at a time of government cuts. Examples of collaborations include: * Joint Response Unit (with

Welsh Ambulance Service The Welsh Ambulance Services University NHS Trust (), or simply the Welsh Ambulance Service, is the national ambulance service for Wales. As of April 2025, it has 3,500 staff providing ambulance and related services to the 3 million residents o ...

) – where a special constable works alongside a paramedic or technician. Funded by the

and staffed by Gwent Police

Special Constabulary The Special Constabulary is the part-time volunteer section of statutory police forces in the United Kingdom and some Crown dependencies. Its officers are known as special constables. Every United Kingdom territorial police force has a speci ...

. * Joint Firearms Unit (with

Dyfed–Powys Police Dyfed-Powys Police (; DPP) is the territorial police force in Wales policing Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire (which make up the former administrative area of Dyfed) and the unitary authority of Powys (covering Brecknockshire, Radn ...

and

South Wales Police South Wales Police (; SWP) is one of the four territorial police forces in Wales. It is headquartered in Bridgend. The force was formed as South Wales Constabulary on 1 June 1969, by the amalgamation of the former Glamorgan Constabulary, Car ...

) * Tarian (with Dyfed-Powys Police and South Wales Police) – regional organised crime unit. * Wales Extremism and Counter Terrorism Unit (with Dyfed-Powys Police, South Wales Police and

North Wales Police North Wales Police () is the territorial police force responsible for policing North Wales. Its headquarters are in Colwyn Bay. , the force has 1,510 police officers, 170 special constables, 182 police community support officers (PCSO), 71 p ...

) * South Wales Joint Scientific Investigation Unit (with South Wales Police) – processes all forensic submissions * Air support is provided by the

National Police Air Service The National Police Air Service (NPAS) is a police aviation service that provides centralised air support to the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales, as well as the three special police forces serving that area. It replaced the p ...

(NPAS) – mainly using NPAS47, a

Eurocopter EC135 The Airbus Helicopters H135, formerly Eurocopter EC135, is a twin-engine civil light utility helicopter produced by Airbus Helicopters. It is capable of flight under instrument flight rules (IFR) and is outfitted with a digital automatic flig ...

Police Helicopter based at

MOD St Athan Ministry of Defence St Athan or MOD St Athan ( Welsh: Maes awyr Sain Tathan), formerly known as Royal Air Force St Athan, or more simply RAF St Athan, is a large Ministry of Defence unit near the village of St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan, sou ...

, supported by NPAS43 from

Almondsbury Almondsbury () is a large village and civil parish in South Gloucestershire, England. It is situated on the A38 road in the Avon Green Belt north of Bristol city centre. It is adjacent to junction 16 of the M5 motorway and Almondsbury Interc ...

near Bristol. * Missing Children's Unit (with local councils) * Youth Offending Service (with local councils, healthcare bodies,

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) is the name for care provided by the NHS and other organisations in the United Kingdom for children, generally until school-leaving age, who have difficulties with their emotional well-being or ...

(CAMHS), and Probation Service). * Joint Legal Services (with South Wales Police) * Joint Printing Unit (with South Wales Police) * Record Management (with South Wales Police)

Police stations and offices

Gwent Police operate both fully-fledged police stations, and several offices and shops that serve as points of contact with the public. For example, the police station at

Abertillery Abertillery (; ) is a town and community (Wales), community in Blaenau Gwent County Borough, Wales. It is located in the Ebbw Fach Valley, Ebbw Fach valley, and the Monmouthshire (historic), historic county of Monmouthshire. The surrounding lan ...

closed due to budget cuts, but the police still maintain a presence at the local fire station. In

Abergavenny Abergavenny (; , , archaically , ) is a market town and Community (Wales), community in Monmouthshire, Wales. Abergavenny is promoted as a "Gateway to Wales"; it is approximately from the England–Wales border, border with England and is loca ...

, neighbourhood officers are available at a "one stop shop" shared with

Monmouthshire County Council Monmouthshire County Council (or simply Monmouthshire Council) () is the governing body for the Monmouthshire principal area – one of the unitary authorities of Wales. The current unitary authority was created in 1996 and covers the eastern ...

. On the other hand, several buildings are owned for operational or administrative purposes that are not open to the public, including the force headquarters in

. Newport Central police station is the only front desk service that is available 24 hours a day, a custody suite is based at the station. Several front offices and stations have been partially or fully closed following a review of the function and role of front desks in police stations.

Chief constables

* 19671981 : William Farley * 19811994 : John Over * 19941996 : Sir Anthony Burden * 19971999 : Francis J. Wilkinson * 1999? : Keith Turner * 20042008 : Michael Tonge * 20082010 : Mick Giannasi * 20112013 : Carmel Napier * 20132017 : Jeff Farrar * 2017June 2019 : Julian Williams * June 2019present : Pam Kelly

Media engagement

In 2009, Gwent Police worked with film maker Peter Watkins-Hughes to create the short film ''

Cow Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are called co ...

'' as part of a campaign to stop

texting while driving Texting while driving, also called texting and driving, is the act of composing, sending, or reading text messages on a mobile phone while driving, operating a motor vehicle. Texting while driving is considered traffic safety, extremely dangerous ...

. The film earned honours in the ''

Advertising Age ''Ad Age'' (known as ''Advertising Age'' until 2017) is a global media brand that publishes news, analysis, and data on marketing and media. Its namesake magazine was started as a broadsheet newspaper in Chicago in 1930. ''Ad Age'' appears in ...

's'' weekly Creativity Top 5 video and became an overnight worldwide internet hit after being shown on the USA ''

The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'') is an American morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was the first of its genre on American television ...

'' television show. In 2019, a mugshot of a wanted drug dealer that Gwent Police had posted to

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

received than 89,000 comments, many of which mocked his hairstyle. Gwent Police warned that abusive comments could be against the law.

References

External links

*
Gwent Police
at

HMICFRS His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS), formerly Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC), has statutory responsibility for the inspection of the police forces of England and Wales, and since ...

{{UK home nations police forces Blaenau Gwent Caerphilly County Borough Monmouthshire Newport, Wales Torfaen Government agencies established in 1967 Organizations established in 1967 1967 establishments in Wales Police forces of Wales Organisations based in Newport, Wales Welsh police authorities Gwent (county)