Northumbria Police is a territorial police force in England. It is responsible for policing the metropolitan boroughs of Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead,

North Tyneside North Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It forms part of the greater Tyneside conurbation. North Tyneside Council is headquartered at Cobalt Park, Wallsend. North Tyneside is bordered ...

South Tyneside South Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, North East England. It is bordered by all four other boroughs in Tyne and Wear – Gateshead to the west, Sunderland in the south, North Tyneside to the no ...

and the

City of Sunderland The City of Sunderland () is a metropolitan borough with city status in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, North East England. It is named after its largest settlement, Sunderland, spanning a far larger area, including nearby towns incl ...

, as well as the ceremonial county of Northumberland. It is the largest police force in the North East by geographical area and number of officers. The force covers an area of with a population of 1.46million.

Organisation

, it has 3,155 police officers, 125 special constables, 204 police community support officers and 1,649 police staff. The force's headquarters are located in Wallsend,

. However, significant numbers of functions have been dispersed to various locations throughout the force area as part of plans to reduce costs, with the stated intention of operating without a traditional headquarters function. , the chief constable is Winton Keenen. The force uses a variety of vehicle, the most common of which are

Vauxhall Corsa The Opel Corsa is a supermini car engineered and produced by the German automobile manufacturer Opel since 1982. Throughout its existence, it has been sold under a variety of other brands owned by General Motors (most notably Vauxhall, Chevrole ...

, Vauxhall Astra,

Vauxhall Vivaro Opel Vivaro, a light commercial vehicle, which is also sold in the United Kingdom as the Vauxhall Vivaro, may refer to: * The Opel Vivaro A, based on the second-generation Renault Trafic, and was produced between 2001 and 2014 * The Opel Vivaro B, ...

, Ford Transit, and

BMW 3 Series The BMW 3 Series is a line of compact executive cars manufactured by the German automaker BMW since May 1975. It is the successor to the 02 Series and has been produced in seven generations. The first generation of the 3 Series was only avail ...

. Northumbria Police has two inter-operable communication centres: *Northern Communication Centre (NCC) deals with all stations and commands north of the Tyne, based at

Ponteland Ponteland ( ) is a large village and civil parish in Northumberland, England, north of Newcastle upon Tyne. The name means "island in the Pont", after the River Pont which flows from west to east and joins the River Blyth further downstream, be ...

, Northumberland. *Southern Communication Centre (SCC) deals with all stations and commands south of the Tyne, based at South Shields police station.

History

The force was formed in 1974 by merging the

Northumberland Constabulary Northumberland Constabulary was the Home Office police force for the county of Northumberland, England, from 1969 until 1974. Northumberland County Constabulary absorbed Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Police in 1921 and Northumberland Constabulary ...

with part of the Durham Constabulary. The police forces for the county boroughs of South Shields, Gateshead, Sunderland, Newcastle upon Tyne and Tynemouth had already been amalgamated into their respective county forces in 1969, with the Berwick-upon-Tweed police having been merged into Northumberland County Constabulary in 1921.

Notable operations

Fugitive Raoul Moat was pursued by Northumbria Police in the 2010 Northumbria Police manhunt. Moat targeted Northumbria Police officers after his release from

HM Prison Durham HM Prison Durham is a Georgian era reception Category B men's prison, located in the Elvet area of Durham in County Durham, England. Built in 1819, the prison continues to be operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. Women prisoners were mov ...

. A manhunt was initiated by Northumbria Police, calling upon mutual aid assistance from the armed response units of other police forces in support of Northumbria's armed officers. Neighbouring police forces offered support, as well as forces as far away as the Metropolitan Police, which deployed 40 firearms officers trained in the use of sniper rifles. The

Police Service of Northern Ireland The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI; ga, Seirbhís Póilíneachta Thuaisceart Éireann; Ulster-Scots: ') is the police force that serves Northern Ireland. It is the successor to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) after it was reform ...

dispatched 20 specialist off-road armoured vehicles to help in the search on rough terrain in Northumberland. Since this operation, Northumbria Police has significantly increased its armed response capacity. In January 2014, Northumbria Police launched Operation Sanctuary to investigate sexual abuse gangs targeting vulnerable young white girls. By June 2014, the operation had identified 80 victims and the total number of arrests had reached a 104.

Public controversies

In May 2016, details emerged of an affair between former Chief Constable Mike Craik and then Assistant Chief Constable Carolyn Peacock. Peacock's husband also then a serving police officer found out about the affair at a barbecue, and attacked Craik. Officers from Northumbria Police were called to the incident, which was later removed from all police logs on order of the chief constable, and legally banned from reporting in the courts. The legal bans were lifted, after the former head of legal sued the force for unfair dismissal.

Proposed mergers

Under proposals made by the Home Secretary on 6 February 2006, Northumbria was to merge with

Cleveland Police Cleveland Police is the territorial police force responsible for the policing area corresponding to the former county of Cleveland in Northern England. As of September 2017, the force had 1,274 police officers, 278 police staff, 124 police com ...

and Durham Constabulary to form a single strategic police force for North East England. Both Northumbria and Durham favoured this proposal, while Cleveland expressed a wish that it be merged with the southern area of the Durham force. All proposals regarding force mergers were subsequently dropped nationwide.

Funding cuts

Since 2010, Northumbria Police has suffered the most significant funding cuts of any UK police force due to the austerity, amounting to a 23% reduction in the force's budget. Former chief constable, Steve Ashman expressed fears Northumbria police could soon be unable to provide an adequate police service. Ashman said, "If the day of not being able to provide a professional service was here, I would say it is not here, but it is getting very, very close." Northumbria police received £259.6 million for the year 2017–18 which is up slightly from £259.5M in 2016–17. This small rise is insufficient to compensate for inflation currently at just under 3% per year. Northumbria police experienced a funding cut in real terms. Most Northumbrian police stations now close at 8.00 pm or earlier, and people needing the police after that time must use the telephone or an interactive service.

Chief officer team

, the chief officer team consists of the following: *Chief constable Winton Keenen *Deputy chief constable Debbie Ford *Assistant chief constable Scott Young *Assistant chief constable (temporary) David Felton *Assistant chief constable (temporary) Neil Hutchison

Chief constables

*19431946 : Sir Joseph Simpson (knighted KBE in the 1959 New Year Honours) *1969?1975 : Clarence Harrington Cooksley *19751991 : Sir Stanley Ernest Bailey *19911996 : John Stevens *19982005 : Crispian Strachan *20052010 : Mike Craik *20102015 : Sue Sim *20152017 : Stephen Ashman *2017present : Winton Keenen

Officers killed in the line of duty

The Police Roll of Honour Trust and

Police Memorial Trust The Police Memorial Trust is a charitable organisation founded in 1984 and based in London. The trust's objective is to erect memorials to British police officers killed in the line of duty, at or near the spot where they died, thereby acting as ...

list and commemorate all British police officers killed in the line of duty. Since its establishment in 1984, the Police Memorial Trust has erected 50 memorials nationally to some of those officers. Since 1900, the following officers of Northumbria Police and its predecessors are listed by the Trust as having been killed while attempting to prevent, stop or solve a criminal act: * PC George Bertram Mussell, 1913 (shot) * Sergeant Andrew Barton, 1913 (shot) * PC George William Wheatley, 1957 (fell from roof while searching for a suspect) * PC Brian Armstrong, 1966 (stabbed) * PC Daniel Buckley, 1982 (fell through roof while pursuing a burglar) * PC Bernard Leslie Bull, 1991 (collapsed and died during an arrest) * Sergeant William Forth, 1993 (stabbed) * PC Joseph Geoffrey Carroll, 2006 (the prisoner he was transporting caused the vehicle to crash, fatally injuring the officer) On 6 November 2017, Constable John Davidson of the

Abbotsford Police Department The Abbotsford Police Department is the police force for the City of Abbotsford, British Columbia Abbotsford is a city located in British Columbia, adjacent to the Canada–United States border, Greater Vancouver and the Fraser River. Wit ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada, was shot and killed while trying to arrest a suspect who had allegedly opened fire in the parking lot of a shopping centre. Davidson had served with the Northumbria Police from 1993 to 2005, before emigrating to join the Abbotsford Police.

References

External links

*
Northumbria 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 ...

{{Authority control 1974 establishments in England Organisations based in Northumberland Organisations based in Tyne and Wear Police forces of England Organizations established in 1974