Northamptonshire Police (colloquially known as Northants Police) is the territorial police force responsible for policing the county of Northamptonshire in the East Midlands of England, in the United Kingdom.
The Northamptonshire police area includes Brackley, Burton Latimer, Corby, Daventry, Desborough, Higham Ferrers, Irthlingborough, Kettering, Northampton, Oundle, Raunds, Rothwell, Rushden, Towcester, Thrapston and Wellingborough across with a resident population of 710,000. It responds to more than one million phone calls a year, with more than 120,000 of these being emergency 999.
History
Northamptonshire Police can trace its earliest roots to 1840, when the Northamptonshire Constabulary and Daventry Constabulary were formed. The establishment of police forces at that time was based upon principles established by Sir Robert Peel, the Home Secretary in 1822 and founder of modern-day policing in most Westminster-based systems of government. Known as the Peelian Principles, they describe a philosophy that define an ethical police force and include: Every police officer should be issued an identification number, to assure accountability for his actions. Whether the police are effective is not measured on the number of arrests, but on the lack of crime. Above all else, an effective authority figure knows trust and accountability are paramount. Hence, Peel's most often quoted principle that "The police are the public and the public are the police".
Upon creation, Northamptonshire Constabulary initially started with seven superintendents and 35 police constables, who worked in a primitive shift system and were paid 12 shillings a week.
In 1930, Northamptonshire Constabulary rolled-out their first motorised vehicles for law enforcement use. The inventory included two cars and four motorcycles for police officer use. The vehicles were stationed throughout the county, with one car based in Daventry and the other in Kettering. The motorcycles were stationed in Northampton, Wellingborough, Oundle and Towcester.
The Northamptonshire Constabulary merged with the borough police forces within Northamptonshire on 1 April 1966 to form Northampton and County Constabulary with an estimated 442 officers and actual strength of 387.The Thin Blue Line, Police Council for Great Britain Staff Side Claim for Undermanning Supplements, 1965
The force was renamed the Northamptonshire Police in 1975.
Chief constables The chief constable is the most senior officer within Northamptonshire Police and holds command of the force. The chief constable is accountable to the police and crime commissioner, who appoints chief constables and may dismiss them.
+Chief constables of Northamptonshire PoliceChief constableTermCommentsHenry Goddard18401849First chief constableHenry Lambert Bailey18491875Thomas Orde Hastings Lees18751881James Kellie-MacCallum18811931Held the rank of lieutenant in the Army.Angus Ferguson19311941Robert Henry Dundas Bolton19411960Held the rank of captain in the Army.John Aidan Hasting Gott19601972Frederick Arthur Cutting19721979Maurice Buck 19791986David O'Dowd19861993Sir Edward Crew19931996Sir Christopher Fox19962003Peter Maddison20032009Adrian Lee20092015Simon Edens20152018Nick Adderley20182024Held the rank of able seaman in the Navy. Dismissed for gross misconduct after being found guilty of exaggerating his military career.Ivan Balhatchet2023present
Northamptonshire Police and Crime Commissioner The Northamptonshire Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) is an elected official charged with securing efficient and effective policing within the county. The position replaces the now abolished police authorities. The PCC is elected for four-year terms. The first incumbents were elected on 15 November 2012.
The current PCC is Danielle Stone who was elected to office on 9 May 2024 to a term expiring in May 2028.
The core functions of the PCC is to secure the maintenance of an efficient and effective police force within Northamptonshire, and to hold the Chief Constable to account for the delivery of the police and crime plan. The PCC is also charged with holding the police fund (from which all policing in the county is financed) and raising the local policing precept from council tax. Lastly, the PCC is responsible for the appointment, suspension and dismissal of the Chief Constable.
Police and Crime Plan Shortly after their election to office, the PCC is required to produce a Police and Crime Plan. The plan must include their objectives for policing, what resources will be provided to the Chief Constable and how performance will be measured. Both the PCC and the Chief Constable must have regard to the Police and Crime Plan in the exercise of their duties. The PCC is required to produce an annual report to the public on progress in policing. The Police and Crime Plan 2014-2017 is Northamptonshire Police's foundation document.
Police funding The PCC is charged with managing the 'police fund', from which all policing is financed. The bulk of funding for the police fund comes from the Home Office in the form of an annual grant (calculated on a proportionate basis by the Home Office to take into account the differences between the 43 forces in England and Wales, which vary significantly in terms of population, geographical size, crime levels and trends), though the PCC has the authority to set a precept on the Council Tax to raise additional funds. The PCC is responsible for setting the budget for the Force, which includes allocating enough money from the overall policing budget to ensure that they can discharge their own functions effectively.
Facilities Police officers and staff operate from the Police Force Headquarters at Wootton Hall in Northampton as well an additional six smaller stations based in: Corby, Daventry, Kettering, Northampton, Wellingborough and Weston Favell. The police also operate from a shared base with the fire service in Rushden, based out of the fire station there.
There are also two Justice Centres:
Criminal Justice Centre (Brackmills) - This is a base for police support staff, officers and also has a custody centre. Weekley Wood Justice Centre (Kettering) - This is a base for police support staff, officer and also has a custody centre. Weekley Wood is also a joint base for administrative staff of the Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service.
Organisation The force is led by the chief constable, and is composed of:
The chief officers and Force Command Team; Crime and Justice Command; Force Support Departments; East Midlands Police Collaboration; and, Multi-Force Shared Services.
PEEL inspection His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) conducts a periodic police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy (PEEL) inspection of each police service's performance. In its latest PEEL inspection, Northamptonshire Police was rated as follows:
Outstanding Good Adequate Requires Improvement Inadequate2021 rating
Resources
Vehicles
As of January 2016, Northamptonshire Police use a range of vehicles to perform their duties. Vehicles are used for regular patrols and response, armed response, road crime units, and dog units. They also use motorcycles.
Air support Northamptonshire Police do not have their own aircraft as all English and Welsh police forces are now supported by the centralised National Police Air Service.
East Midlands Operational Support Service (EMOpSS)
Northamptonshire was formerly a member of the shared service that works to collaborate and share officers, resources and equipment between Lincolnshire Police and Leicestershire Police.
Computing equipment In 2011, Northamptonshire Police was one of the police forces critical of the costs of using a procurement framework agreement, Sprint ii, to purchase IT supplies from a sole supplier. Sprint ii was set up by the government's Crown Commercial Service in 2010 and mandated for police authority use from March 2011, but concerns were raised that costs were higher than they would be using other collaborative purchasing channels.Kunert, P., Side-lined suppliers beat on Police procurement deal, The Register, published 27 June 2011, accessed 2 October 2023 The mandate expired at the end of the life of the framework agreement.UK Legislation, The Police Act 1996 (Equipment) (Amendment) Regulations 2014, published 24 February 2014, accessed 2 October 2023
Tasers On 19 August 2019, then chief constable Nick Adderley announced that he would be equipping all front line officers with tasers, after a Police Federation of England and Wales poll found that 94% of officers would like to see more officers armed with tasers. Adderley stated that the deployment would take approximately 18 months and cost the force around £220,000, but he felt that it was justifiable, given the increase in violent attacks against officers.
See also List of law enforcement agencies in the United Kingdom, Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories Law enforcement in the United Kingdom
References
External links
Northamptonshire Police at HMICFRS