Cumbria Constabulary

Cumbria Constabulary
Agency overview
Formed	1974
Preceding agencies	Cumberland,Lancashire and Westmorland Constabulary Kendal Borough Police Carlisle City Police
Employees	2,151[1]
Volunteers	142[1]
Annual budget	£94 million[1]
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction	Cumbria, England, UK
Map of police area
Size	2,268 square miles (5,870 km2)
Population	500,000
Legal jurisdiction	England & Wales
Governing body	Home Office
Constituting instrument	Police Act 1996
General nature	• Local civilian agency
Headquarters	Carleton Hall, Penrith
Constables	1,121[2]
Police Community Support Officers	99
Police and Crime Commissioner responsible	Peter McCall, Conservative Party (UK)
Agency executive	Michelle Skeer, Chief Constable
Territorial Police Areas	North, South and West
Facilities
Stations	14
Patrol cars
Website
www.cumbria.police.uk

Cumbria Constabulary is the territorial police force in England covering Cumbria. As of September 2017, the force had 1,108 police officers, 535 police staff, 93 police community support officers, 25 designated officers and 86 special constables.^[3] In terms of officer numbers, it is the 7th smallest of the 48 police forces of the United Kingdom. Conversley, its geographic area of responsibility is the 7th largest police area of a territorial police force in the United Kingdom (when including Police Scotland and the Police Service of Northern Ireland). The force area's size and its population of just under 500,000 people makes it sparsely populated. The only major urban areas are Carlisle and Barrow-in-Furness.

There are significant areas of isolated and rural community, and the county has one of the smallest visible minority ethnic populations in the country at under 3.0%. Each year Cumbria, which incorporates the Lake District National Park, attracts over 23 million visitors from all over the world (46 times the local population). The county has 67 miles (108 km) of motorway and some 700 miles (1,100 km) of trunk and primary roads.

The Chief Constable is Michelle Skeer.^[4] The headquarters of the force are at Carleton Hall, Penrith.

Organisation

In terms of operational policing the force is divided into two commands - the Territorial Policing Command and the Crime Command, each headed by a Chief Superintendent.^[5]

Collaborations

Cumbria Constabulary is a partner in the following collaboration:

• North West Police Underwater Search & Marine Unit

History

Cumberland and Westmorland Constabulary was formed in 1856. In 1947 this force absorbed Kendal Borough Police. Less than 20 years later this amalgamated force absorbed Carlisle City Police to form a force broadly the same as today's force called the Cumberland, Westmorland and Carlisle Constabulary. In 1965, it had an establishment of 652 and an actual strength of 617.^[6] In 1967 the force name was changed to Cumbria Constabulary.

In 1974 the force's boundaries were expanded to include the new non-metropolitan county of Cumbria, in particular Furness and Sedbergh Rural District.

The Home Secretary proposed on 6 February 2006 to merge it with Lancashire Constabulary. These proposals were accepted by both forces on 25 February and the merger would have taken place on 1 April 2007.^[7] However, in July 2006, the Cumbria and Lancashire forces decided not to proceed with the merger because the Government could not remedy issues with the differing council tax precepts.^[8]

Chief Constables

Cumbria Constabulary (1967)

• 1968–1980 : William Cavey ^[9]
• 1980–1987 : Barry David Keith Price ^[10]
• 1991–1997 : Alan Elliott ^[11]
• 1997–2001 : Colin Phillips ^[12]
• 2001–2007 : Michael Baxter ^[13]
• 2007-2012 : Sir Craig Thomas Mackey QPM
• 2012-2013 Stuart Hyde QPM^[14]
• 2014-2018 Jerry Graham QPM^[15]
• 2018– : Michelle Skeer^[16][17]

Officers killed in the line of duty

The Police Roll of Honour Trust lists and commemorates all British police officers killed in the line of duty. The Police Memorial Trust has erected over 30 memorials to some of those officers since its establishment in 1984.^[18]

• The force's first, and to date only, murder of an officer occurred on 10 February 1965. Constable George William Russell, aged 36, was fatally shot when, unarmed and knowing that colleagues had already been fired on, he confronted an armed suspect and called upon him to surrender at a railway station in Kendal. Russell was posthumously awarded the Queen's Police Medal for gallantry and a memorial plaque has been unveiled on a wall at Carlisle Cathedral.^[18]
• PC Keith Easterbrook (died 3 June 1993, aged 36) was fatally injured in a road traffic accident, while assisting in a vehicle pursuit, when a van he was overtaking pulled out and collided with his police motorcycle, on the A595 near Workington.
• PC William "Bill" Barker was killed whilst on duty on 20 November 2009. At night during severe weather and flooding across the county, the officer was directing motorists to safety off Northside Bridge, Workington, which was in a dangerous condition, when the bridge was destroyed by the flood and he was swept away and killed, his body found on a beach at Allonby that afternoon. Barker had completed 25 years police service and was a traffic officer attached to the Roads Policing Unit based at Workington; he had won a number of awards during his service.

See also

• Cumbria Police and Crime Commissioner
• Policing in the United Kingdom
• PC John Kent - The first black British police officer, who served with the then Carlisle City Police between 1837 and 1844

Footnotes

External links

• Official website