Somerset and Bath Constabulary was a short-lived police force in

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 ...

which existed from 1967 to 1974. It was responsible for policing the

administrative county An administrative county was a first-level administrative division in England and Wales from 1888 to 1974, and in Ireland from 1899 until 1973 in Northern Ireland, 2002 in the Republic of Ireland. They are now abolished, although most Northern ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

and the county borough of

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

. The force was formed following the amalgamation of

Somerset Constabulary Somerset Constabulary was the police force responsible for policing the county of Somerset, England, between 1856 and 1967. It was formed as a result of the County and Borough Police Act 1856. This act made it compulsory for the county authoritie ...

and Bath City Police on 1 January 1967. The amalgamation came as a result of the

Police Act 1964 The Police Act 1964 (c. 48) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that updated the legislation governing police forces in England and Wales, constituted new police authorities, gave the Home Secretary new powers to supervise loca ...

, which significantly reduced the number of individual police forces in England and Wales. The Act did give the Home Secretary power to mandate amalgamations, however both preceding forces agreed to a voluntary amalgamation. At the time of formation the force had 912 officers and was responsible for policing a population of 644,460. The force was abolished just over 7 years later on 31 March 1974 as a result of 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 ...

. The force merged with Bristol City Police and parts of the

Gloucestershire Constabulary Gloucestershire Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing the non-metropolitan county of Gloucestershire in South West England. The force formerly covered the area of South Gloucestershire, however this was transf ...

to form

Avon and Somerset Constabulary Avon and Somerset Police is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement in the five unitary authority areas of Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset, Somerset, and South Gloucestershire, all in South West Englan ...

, which polices the area to this day.

References

{{reflist 1967 establishments in England 1974 disestablishments in England 20th century in Somerset Defunct police forces of England Organisations based in Bath, Somerset Organisations based in Somerset History of Bath, Somerset History of Somerset