The Isle of Man Constabulary () is the national police service of the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

, an island of 85,000 inhabitants, situated approximately

equidistant A point is said to be equidistant from a set of objects if the distances between that point and each object in the set are equal. In two-dimensional Euclidean geometry, the locus of points equidistant from two given (different) points is t ...

from

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Structures and deployment

The force has about 236 officers in its establishment. As the Isle of Man is not a part of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, the Constabulary is responsible to the

Minister of Home Affairs An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

of the

Isle of Man Government The Isle of Man Government () is the government of the Isle of Man. The formal head of the Isle of Man Government is the Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man, Lieutenant Governor, the personal representative of the Lord of Mann (currently Char ...

. Nevertheless, the service volunteers itself for inspection by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) for

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the Law of the United Kingdom#Legal jurisdictions, 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. Th ...

. The force is split into four

Neighbourhood Policing Team A neighbourhood policing team (NPT), also sometimes known as safer neighbourhood team (SNT), is a small team of police officers and police community support officers (usually 3-10 strong) who are dedicated to policing a certain community or are ...

s (NPTs). Each NPT is controlled by an inspector who has established a partnership with the local community to help solve issues affecting the local area. There is a Criminal Investigation Department which includes the CID, Public Protection and Pro-active Teams A small team of intelligence and drug trafficking officers exists dedicated to this. Drug trafficking is an assigned matter to the Isle of Man Customs and Excise. An Operational Support Group which includes operational Firearms and Training, Public Order officers, a Search Team, Negotiators and Post Incident Managers. Armed officers generally utilize the

Glock 17 Glock (; stylized as GLOCK) is a brand of polymer- framed, short-recoil-operated, striker-fired, locked-breech semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Austrian manufacturer Glock Ges.m.b.H. The firearm entered Austrian military an ...

9x19mm sidearm and favor the Heckler & Koch HK416 5.56x45mm rifle. A major event for the force is the annual TT races. The constabulary's headquarters are in Douglas. The present chief constable is Russ Foster.

Uniform

WMP Museum - Police Force Isle of Man helmet 01

In terms of uniform, the force looks very similar to police in the

, apart from the Isle of Man

custodian helmet The custodian helmet is a type of helmet worn predominantly by male police officers in the United Kingdom and within certain other places around the world. First used by the Metropolitan Police in London in 1863, the BBC labelled the custodian h ...

s worn by male constables and sergeants. White helmets were introduced in 1960 as a summer alternative to the older black helmets (partly for tourism reasons). White helmets were used as a summer option in other police forces (including Brighton, Southend-on-Sea and

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

Borough Police forces; Peterborough City Police; the Metropolitan Police's band; and the New Zealand Police), but this practice ceased in the UK in 1969 and in New Zealand in the 1990s. The white helmet is now worn year round by officers on foot patrol. Officers on mobile patrol tend to wear peaked caps. Officers of the rank of sergeant and above may carry a "signalling stick" when on foot patrol. This is in effect an additional rank indicator. Until very recently, constables "acting up" in the rank of sergeant were referred to as "carrying the stick". If the "acting" was only short term, the stick was often the only indicator of their additional responsibilities.

Controversies

During the tenure of Mike Culverhouse, the force was involved in the Manx Bugging Scandal, and almost all senior officers except the Chief Constable were either suspended, retired or dismissed due to the uncovering of widespread

bugging A covert listening device, more commonly known as a bug or a wire, is usually a combination of a miniature radio transmitter with a microphone. The use of bugs, called bugging, or wiretapping is a common technique in surveillance, espionage and ...

Rank structure

The rank structure of the Isle of Man Constabulary follows the practice of United Kingdom county (as opposed to metropolitan) territorial police forces, except that there are no ranks of chief superintendent or assistant chief constable. There are currently three superintendents and four chief inspectors.

Chief officers

* Chief Constable Russ Foster, 2023-present * Chief Constable Gary Roberts, 2013–2023 * Chief Constable Mike Langdon, 2008–2013 * Chief Constable Mike Culverhouse, 1999–2007 * Chief Constable Robin Oake, 1986–1999 * Chief Constable Frank Weedon, 1972–1986 * Chief Constable Christopher Beaty-Pownall, 1955–1972 * Chief Constable

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

John Young, 1936–1954 * Chief Constable

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

H W Madoc, 1911–1936 * Chief Constable William Freeth, 1888–1911 * Chief Constable Lieutenant Colonel William Paul, 1878–1888

References

External links

*
''Isle of Man Constabulary''

His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services 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 ...

. {{Police forces of the Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories Police forces of dependent territories of the United Kingdom Emergency services in the Isle of Man 1863 establishments in the Isle of Man Organizations established in 1863