Staffordshire Police is the

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 federations, ...

responsible for policing

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands C ...

and

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...

in the West Midlands of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. It is made up of eleven Local Policing Teams, whose boundaries are matched to the nine local authorities within Staffordshire.

History

A combined force covering Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, called Staffordshire County and Stoke-on-Trent Constabulary, was established on 1 January 1968, as a merger of the Staffordshire County Police and Stoke-on-Trent City Police. This force lost areas to the new West Midlands Police in 1974 under the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

and adopted a shorter name. Under proposals made by the

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all nationa ...

on 6 February 2006, it would have merged with Warwickshire Constabulary,

West Mercia Constabulary West Mercia Police (), formerly the West Mercia Constabulary, is the territorial police force responsible for policing the counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire (including Telford and Wrekin) and Worcestershire in England. The force area cove ...

and West Midlands Police to form a single strategic force for the West Midlands region. However these plans have not been taken forward largely due to public opposition. For 2005/06 Staffordshire police topped the Home Office chart as being the best performing police force in

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is En ...

Chief constables

*1842–1857: John Hayes Hatton *1857–??: Lt-Col Gilbert Hogg *1888–1929: George Augustus Anson *1929–1951: Colonel Sir Herbert Hunter *1951–1960: George William Richard Hearn *1960–1964: Stanley Edwards Peck *1964–1977: Arthur Rees (previously Chief Constable of Denbighshire, 1957–64) *1977–1996: Charles Henry Kelly *1996–2006: John Giffard *2006–2007: David Swift *2007–2009: Chris Sims *2009–2015: Mike Cunningham *2015–2017: Jane Sawyers *2017–2021: Gareth Morgan *2021: Emma Barnett (temporary) *2021–present: Chris Noble

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. The following officers of Staffordshire Police are listed by the Trust as having died attempting to prevent, stop or solve a crime, since the turn of the 20th century: *PC William Ezra Price, 1903 (fatally injured attempting to arrest three men) *PC Brinley James Booth, 1946 (bludgeoned to death while attempting to arrest a suspect) *PC John David Taylor, 1986 (pushed out of a building by a suspect)

Organisation

Staffordshire Police is one of two forces involved in the

Central Motorway Police Group The Central Motorway Police Group (CMPG) is a co-operative operation between two police forces in the West Midlands of England. Officers from the two forces involved – Staffordshire Police, and West Midlands Police – provide a dedicated p ...

along with West Midlands Police. This unit provides roads policing for the motorway network in the West Midlands (mainly M5, M6 and M42). Staffordshire Police has a roads policing unit who police the roads across the county. Staffordshire Police had a mounted division until 1999 where a major reorganisation saw it disbanded. In September 2008, the force announced that it intended to vacate the Cannock Road site and sell it for housing development, moving HQ staff to Lanchester Court, next to the existing Weston Road premises. Staffordshire Police Authority, a separate organisation charged with oversight of the force, had 9 councillors (drawn from both Staffordshire County Council and Stoke-on-Trent City Council), 3

justices of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or '' puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission (letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sam ...

, and 5 independent members. The authority was abolished in November 2012, following the election of the first Staffordshire Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), Matthew Ellis. The office of the police and crime commissioner and the individual elected is responsible for reducing crime and making the area they represent safer. The PCC decides how much council tax people will pay towards community safety services and policing and is personally accountable for all the public money spent. In 2021, Ben Adams was elected as the new police, fire and crime commissioner, a role previously expanded to include oversight of Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Staffordshire Police Cadets

Rugeley Police Station - Anson Street, Rugeley - Police van

The Staffordshire Police Cadet scheme aims to strengthen links between the police and young people and promote good citizenship. The programme's chief officer is Chief Superintendent Elliot Sharrad William. The programs deputy chief officer (DCO) is also the DCO of the Special Constabulary; the cadets force also has many special constables, regular

police constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other pe ...

s and PSV's (police service volunteers) that assist in the running of the units. The scheme has a ranking system similar to that of the Special Constabulary. This ranking system contains a head cadet, deputy head cadet, section leaders, and then the rank of cadet. There is also a ranking system for the volunteer leaders. This contains a unit commander, deputy unit commander, leaders, young leaders. The rank insignia is the same as the Special Constabulary in the sense of using bars to represent the rank (for example the rank of section leader is equal to the rank of sergeant and has the same insignia as one bar on each shoulder).

References

External links

*
Staffordshire Police
at HMICFRS
Staffordshire Police Cadets
{{Authority control Organisations based in Staffordshire Organisations based in Stoke-on-Trent Police forces of England 1968 establishments in England Organizations established in 1968