Northumbria 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 England, responsible for policing the

ceremonial counties Ceremonial counties, formally known as ''counties for the purposes of the lieutenancies'', are areas of England to which lord-lieutenants are appointed. A lord-lieutenant is the monarch's representative in an area. Shrieval counties have th ...

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

and

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England. It borders Northumberland to the north and County Durham to the south, and the largest settlement is the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. The county is ...

. It is the largest police force in the

North East The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each ...

by geographical area and number of officers. The force covers an area of with a population of 1.46million.

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 Durham Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing the council areas of County Durham and Darlington in North East England. It does not cover all of the ceremonial or historic area of Durham, parts of which are covered ...

. The police forces for the county boroughs of South Shields,

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

and

Tynemouth Tynemouth () is a coastal town in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, in Tyne and Wear, England. It is located on the north side of the mouth of the River Tyne, England, River Tyne, hence its name. It is east-northeast of Newcastle up ...

had already been amalgamated into their respective county forces in 1969, with the

Berwick-upon-Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census recor ...

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 The 2010 Northumbria Police manhunt was a major police operation conducted across Tyne and Wear and Northumberland with the objective of apprehending fugitive Raoul Moat. After killing one person and wounding two others in a two-day shooting ...

. Moat targeted Northumbria Police officers after his release from

HM Prison Durham HM Prison Durham is a Georgian era reception Prison security categories in the United Kingdom, Category B men's prison, located in the Elvet area of Durham, England, Durham in County Durham, England. Built in 1819, the prison is operated by Hi ...

. A manhunt was initiated by Northumbria Police, calling upon

mutual aid Mutual aid is an organizational model where voluntary, collaborative exchanges of resources and services for common benefit take place amongst community members to overcome social, economic, and political barriers to meeting common needs. This ...

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; ; Ulster-Scots: '), is the police service responsible for law enforcement and the prevention of crime within Northern Ireland. It is the successor to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) after it ...

dispatched 20 specialist off-road armoured vehicles to help in the search on rough terrain in

. 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 The secretary of state for the Home Department, more commonly known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom and the head of the Home Office. The position is a Great Office of State, maki ...

on 6 February 2006, Northumbria was to merge with

Cleveland Police Cleveland Police is a territorial police force in England responsible for the policing the boroughs of Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland in North Yorkshire and Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham within North East England. T ...

and Durham Constabulary to form a single strategic police force for

North East England North East England, commonly referred to simply as the North East within England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of County DurhamNorthumberland, , Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and part of northern North Yorkshire. ...

. 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 In economic policy, austerity is a set of Political economy, political-economic policies that aim to reduce government budget deficits through Government spending, spending cuts, tax increases, or a combination of both. There are three prim ...

, 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 constables

* 19431946 : Sir Joseph Simpson * 19691975 : Clarence Harrington Cooksley * 19751991 : Sir Stanley Ernest Bailey * 19911996 : John Stevens * 19982005 : Crispian Strachan * 20052010 : Mike Craik * 20102015 : Sue Sim * 20152017 : Stephen Ashman * 20172023 : Winton Keenen * 2023present : Vanessa Jardine

Officers killed in the line of duty

The

Police Roll of Honour Trust The Police Roll of Honour Trust is a charitable organisation registered in England & Wales and Scotland, it was founded in 2000 and records all those British police officers who have died on and in the line of duty. It has been granted a Royal Cha ...

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 Sergeant (Sgt) is a Military rank, rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage f ...

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 (APD; ) is the police force for the City of Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada. The force was established in 1955 as the Matsqui Police Department and was renamed the Abbotsford Police Department when Matsqui ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

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

Organisation

, it has 3,155

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

, 125 special constables, 204

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 and 1,649 police staff. The force's headquarters are located in

Wallsend Wallsend () is a town in North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies east of Newcastle upon Tyne. History Roman Wallsend In Roman times, this was the site of the fort of ...

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 by Ne ...

. 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 Vanessa Jardine. The force uses a variety of vehicles, the most common of which are

Vauxhall Corsa The Opel Corsa is a supermini car manufactured and marketed by Opel since 1982 — as well as other brands, namely Vauxhall, Chevrolet, and Holden. At its height of popularity, the Corsa became the best-selling car in the world in 1998, re ...

Vauxhall Astra The Vauxhall Astra is a compact car/small family car (C-segment) that has been sold by Vauxhall Motors, Vauxhall since 1980. Over its eight generations, it has been made at several GM/Opel/Stellantis plants around Europe - however most versio ...

, Vauxhall Vivaro,

Ford Transit The Ford Transit is a family of light commercial vehicles manufactured by the Ford Motor Company since 1965, primarily as a panel van, cargo van, but also available in other configurations including a large passenger van (marketed as the Ford ...

, 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 ...

Communication and control centres

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 town and civil parish in Northumberland, England. It is northwest of Newcastle upon Tyne. Built on marshland near St Mary's Church and the old bridge, most marshland has now been drained to make way for housing. In the ind ...

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

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England; it is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. The town was once known in Roman Britain, Roman times as ''Arbeia'' and as ''Caer Urfa'' by the Early Middle Ag ...

police station.

Area commands

As of March 2024, Northumbria Police operate six 'area commands', equivalent to Basic Command Units within other forces. They are aligned to the six

local government areas A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a state, province, division, or territory. The ph ...

which Northumbria Police serve: * Northumberland * North Tyneside * Newcastle * Gateshead * South Tyneside * Sunderland

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