Police Service in Great Britain

The police have four responsibilities:

• To protect life and property
• To preserve law and order
• To prevent and detect crime
• To prosecute offenders against the Queen's Peace

The police service in Great Britain was reviewed in 1993. It now consists of 56 separate forces made up of:

• County forces
• Combined forces from more than one county
• The Metropolitan Police Force which covers an area within a 24 kilometre radius of Charing Cross but excludes the City of London
• The City of London Police

The central authority for the police in England and Wales lies with the Home Secretary. In Scotland, it is the remit of the Secretary of State for Scotland.

Form of Declaration

Every new officer joining the police in England and Wales makes the following oath:

I.................. of................. do solemnly and sincerely declare and affirm that I will well and truly serve Our Sovereign Lady the Queen in the office of constable, without favour or affection, malice or ill will; and that I will to the best of my power cause the peace to be kept and preserved and prevent all offences against the persons and properties of Her Majesty's subjects; and that while I continue to hold the said office I will to the best of my skills and knowledge discharge all the duties thereof faithfully according to law.

Training

Every police officer undergoes two years training as a probationer. Most forces follow a similar pattern, which involves both study and practical work, supervised by experienced officers. The training is divided between In-Force work experience and classroom-based learning. The first two weeks are spent In-Force, where the new officer is introduced to policing. This is followed by fifteen weeks at the Police Training College. Here, new recruits work on the skills needed to be a police officer.

The next phase is In-Force, where officers become familiar with local procedures. When they are familiar with these procedures, they undergo a carefully structured work experience programme which involves both On Street Experience and Basic Policing. This lasts for ten weeks. After this, each officer has two weeks to consolidate learning, they continue development work until they have achieved the two year probationary period.

Training is a vital part of police work and officers can expect to attend courses regularly throughout their careers to keep them up-to-date on police procedures.

Uniforms

Although detectives may wear ordinary clothes, most police officers wear a uniform. This makes them easily identifiable when they are out in the community. The uniform is also a practical form of clothing.

Police uniforms have to be hard wearing, weatherproof and comfortable. Police may be issued with special protective equipment at certain times. For example, riot police wear helmets, and carry shields and heavy batons. Police on firearms duty wear bullet-proof vests. Many other officers also routinely wear these or knife-resistant vests.

Constable Cavanagh describes the uniform he wore in 1855. 'I had to put on a swallow-tail coat and a rabbit-skin high top hat, covered with leather, weighing eighteen ounces, a pair of Wellington boots ... and a belt about four inches broad, with a great brass buckle some six inches deep.'

Police Dogs

Since two specially trained labradors were used to patrol South London in 1938, dogs have been used to support police work. After the Second World War, a training school for police dogs was established in Surrey. The favoured breed is the German shepherd - it is alert, fearless and suspicious of strangers!

It costs almost £6,000 to train a police dog. Each one is carefully matched to a handler with whom it lives as part of the family. Dogs are trained in obedience, tracking, searching and to chase and attack. Training begins when they are twelve months old and lasts for fourteen weeks. Every four months after they start work, both dogs and their handlers receive further training.

Marine Police

The Marine Police (now known as Thames Division) have been policing the River Thames since 1798. In the early nineteenth century, when London was a major port, the Thames was a haunt for criminals and pirates. As the ships lay at the quays ready for unloading, they were an easy target for thieves.

The first vessels used by the Marine Police were rowing galleys. A century later, the force introduced steam launches. It wasn't until 1914 that purpose-built craft were used. Marine Police patrol the river to keep the waterways safe. Since 1833, they have also had the power of Customs Officers to deter any river craft that might be involved in smuggling.

Air Support Unit

An airship, on loan from the Air Ministry, was first used by the police in 1921 to monitor the crowds and traffic at the famous Derby horse race at Ascot. Experiments followed to 'police from the sky' using balloons, autogiros and fixed wing aircraft. In 1967, a number of forces began to think about using helicopters for police work.

The main job of the Air Support Unit is to patrol, but helicopters are often brought in to help with crowd and traffic control, or search and pursuit activities. Helicopters carry state-of-the-art observation and communications equipment. This includes public address systems (the 'Sky Shout'), sirens, a thirty million candle-power searchlight and air-to-ground television systems.

Police in the Community

When an organised police force was first introduced, it was not popular. People were suspicious, afraid that police officers were there to control them rather than protect them.

Gradually, however, attitudes changed. Large cities had serious social problems and the police helped to maintain law and order in the face of increasing crime.

n recent years, contact between the police and the community has strengthened. The Police Act 1996 specifically mentions the requirement for Chief Constables to provide annual Local Policing Plans. These plans may include regular meetings with community liaison groups. Organisations such as Victim Support, Neighbourhood Watch and Consultative Committees have been formed to increase understanding between the police and the general public.

Neighbourhood Watch

Thousands of Neighbourhood Watch groups have been established across the country since the scheme was introduced in 1983. Neighbourhood Watch groups are made up of members of the community. It is one of the most successful initiatives introduced by the police.

Each group has a well-defined local area to monitor. Members are encouraged to:

• Look out for crime or anything suspicious that could lead to a crime being committed
• Report what they see to a police contact
• Improve security in their homes
• Mark valuables and property
• Become involved with their community and promote neighbourliness

Members of Neighbourhood Watch schemes are not encouraged to take the law into their own hands. They are advised to send for the police.

Schools Watch

Concerned about the personal safety of pupils and teachers and anxious to prevent crime on school premises, the police and local education authorities looked for ways to improve security. Using the latest pager technology, schools keep in contact with each other and the police. They pass on messages warning of any potential problems or dangers in the vicinity. For example, if somebody in one school sees a suspicious person on school premises, they can page other schools and the police in the area and alert them.

Crimestoppers

The first Crimestoppers scheme was introduced in 1976 after a brutal murder in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The police believed the murderer lived in the local community and that there were people in the community who knew the identity of the murderer but were afraid to come forward. A detective had the idea of setting up a telephone hotline. Anyone with information could ring anonymously to speak to a detective. If their information led to an arrest, they would be eligible for a reward.

The scheme first came to England in 1988, the City of London and the Metropolitan police were the first to use Crimestoppers. Hundreds of crimes have been solved with the help of Crimestoppers and only 2% of callers ever seek the reward. Most are only interested in passing on information and remaining anonymous.

Crimestoppers was developed as a way of gathering evidence from people who wish to remain anonymous. These people could be:

• Criminals who have information on other criminals but do not wish to be identified as an informant
• Family members of criminals who want to give information without causing a problem within the family
• Members of the public who have information but do not wish to become involved or may be afraid of retribution.

The National Crimestoppers telephone number (only for people who wish to remain anonymous) is: 0800 555 111

Women in the Police Force

Women were first accepted into the police force during the First World War (1914-1918). In 1919, there were 150 policewomen in England and Wales. Twenty years later, there were still only about 230 women. It was not until the Second World War that attitudes began to change and the value of taking women into the force was really appreciated.

The very first policewomen recruited during the First World War had a difficult time. They were often resented by their male colleagues, who believed that policing was 'men's work'. Their duties were restricted to problems involving women and children, and routine clerical and maintenance tasks. They were not allowed to make an arrest unless a male police officer was present.

A shortage of manpower during the Second World War rapidly changed opinions about what women could and couldn't do. The Women's Auxiliary Police Corps boosted the number of female officers; by 1945 there were 3,700 WAPCs and 400 regular policewomen.

It was not until the 1970s that the law was changed so that women officers had to be treated as equals with men. Today, women carry out all levels of police service and many are in senior positions. Pauline Clare is currently Chief Constable of Lancashire Constabulary and Elizabeth Neville is Chief Constable of the Wiltshire Constabulary.