Wiltshire Police, formerly known as Wiltshire Constabulary, is the territorial police force responsible for policing the ceremonial county of Wiltshire in South West England.
The force serves 722,000 people over an area of . In terms of officer numbers, it is the second smallest force in the United Kingdom (after the City of London Police).
History
Before 1830s Prior to the 1830s, policing in Wiltshire was the responsibility of petty and parish constables, who were supervised by magistrates. This was largely ineffective as they were unpaid and untrained, and so independent and forces made up of private citizens such as the Devizes Prosecution Society emerged, and these did not immediately disappear when professional police forces came into being. The Yeomanry Cavalry was active in Wiltshire during this period and utilised as a quasi-police force.
1830s The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 standardised the structure and responsibilities of borough councils in England and Wales, including requiring they provide a professional police force. The Act applied both to new boroughs formed on application in large industrial cities, and to 178 already incorporated boroughs, including Salisbury (officially known as New Sarum until 2009). The New Sarum Police was founded in 1836, but was disbanded and reformed only two years later as the Salisbury City Police – the first modern police force to operate in Wiltshire. In the same year, a detachment of London's Metropolitan Police, which had been established in 1829, was called in to control riots.
Social unrest in the 1830s led to the appointment in 1836 of a royal commission on policing in the counties, which led to the County Police Act 1839. This established a framework and some government funding for magistrates in a county to form a police force based on London's Metropolitan Police, though there was no requirement for them to do so. In the same year the Act passed, groups of labourers had rioted across Wiltshire over the price of food and the introduction of new farm equipment, starting fires and destroying machinery. As a result, Wiltshire became the first county to use the provisions of the Act to form a county-level police force, with Wiltshire Constabulary being established on Wednesday 13 November 1839 at The Bear Hotel, Devizes, mere hours before the second (Gloucestershire).
Wiltshire Constabulary's first chief constable was Captain Samuel Meredith, a distinguished Royal Navy officer. An advertisement was placed to recruit 200 constables who were paid 17/6d a week (£0.875). In those first years, new constables were simply given their uniform and an instruction booklet and then sent off to work without any training or guidance. Wiltshire Constabulary started operating from January 1840 and had filled almost all its posts by the summer. The chief constable spent the first months of his time visiting all the boroughs in Wiltshire, spending almost all his £400 salary on travel. The first ranks were only constable and superintendent, but sergeant, inspector, detectives and five classes of constable were later introduced.
Notable events Notable events for Wiltshire Police in the 19th century include the Rode Hill House murder in 1860 and the bomb explosion outside Salisbury Guildhall in September 1884.
20th century
In 1909, His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary raised concerns over the lack of a mounted division in the force. As a result, six constables were transferred to the new mounted division, which doubled to 12 the next year. Although the mounted division was not active every day, they were of particular use at the Salisbury Races, ceremonial duties such as escorting judges, and guarding the royal carriage. They were also occasionally loaned to neighbouring forces. The fate of the mounted division is unknown, but it most likely was ended during the introduction of motor vehicles in the 1920s. A roads policing unit was founded on 7 May 1939 at the urging of the Home Secretary.
The force did not have a true Criminal Investigation Department until 1936. On 30 June 1857, the Magistrates Committee that oversaw the force expressed interest in forming an investigation department which was founded with three of the 'most intelligent constables'. In 1936, three detective constables and a detective sergeant were appointed, but it was not until 1939 that an official head of the department was appointed, and a detective sergeant was appointed to take charge of new equipment such as that for the Photographic, Printing and Fingerprinting departments. CID remained stagnant in its development until after the war, after which it slowly expanded, and in 1997 it had 170 detectives.
Salisbury continued to have a separate police force, Salisbury City Police, from the rest of Wiltshire until World War II, when the two were merged. The merger took effect on 1 April 1943 and was initially a temporary measure, but became permanent after the war ended.
On 6 July 1961, Sir Charles Carter Chitham, a retired policeman of the former British India, laid the foundation stone of the new Wiltshire Police county headquarters at Devizes.
Twice in the 1980s, Wiltshire Police officers had to cover for the prison officers of Erlestoke Prison when they went on strike. In 1985, the force was involved in the Battle of the Beanfield, which prevented a convoy of new age travellers, known as the Peace Convoy, from establishing the fourteenth Stonehenge free festival at Stonehenge. The incident led to accusations of a police riot. Most significantly the 1980s saw the introduction of the Police National Computer, command and control systems and the HOLMES investigation system. Also a national probationary training programme was introduced in all forces for new recruits. Notable events Notable events in this century include the Trowbridge Christmas Eve murder in 1925 and escorting Louis Blériot when displaying his famous cross-channel aeroplane.
21st century Between July 2022 and May 2024, Wiltshire Police was placed under "special measures" by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary.
Chief constables 18391870 Captain Samuel Meredith RN 18701908 Captain Robert Sterne RN 19081943 Colonel Sir Höel Llewellyn 19431946 W.T. Brooks (acting chief constable) 19461963 Lt Colonel Harold Golden 19631979 George Robert Glendinning 19791983 Kenneth Mayer 19831988 Donald Smith 19881997 Walter Girven 19972004 Dame Elizabeth Neville 20042007 Martin Richards 20082012 Brian Moore 20122013 Patrick Geenty (temporary chief constable) 20132015 Patrick Geenty 20152018 Mike Veale 20182023 Kier Pritchard 2023present Catherine Roper
Officers killed in the line of duty
The Police Roll of Honour Trust and Police Memorial Trust 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.
The following officers of Wiltshire Police have died during the course of their duties: PC Daniel John Cooper, 2010 (road traffic accident) Sergeant Michael Ivor Tucker, 1991 (heart attack during firearms training) PC John Lewis Marsh, 1989 (collapsed and died after struggling to arrest a suspect) DC Mark Herbert, 1987 (road traffic accident) PC Desmond Derrick Kellam, 1979 (attacked by a suspect) PC Philip Stephen Russell, 1978 (road traffic accident) PC Leonard Alan Harding, 1977 (road traffic accident) PC Robert Edward Cray, 1973 (struck by car) PC Colin D. R. Hayward, 1968 (road traffic accident) PC Cedric A. Hemming, 1968 (struck by car) PC Maurice William Foord, 1961 (struck by car) Chief Inspector Edmund Richard Norris, 1955 (road traffic accident) War Reserve Constable Albert William Newman, 1942 (shot) Inspector Albert Enos Mitchell (road traffic accident) PC Henry G. Tanner, 1931 (road traffic accident) PC Frank Gray, 1929 (road traffic accident) Sergeant William Frank Crouch, 1913 (shot) Superintendent Frederick Bull, 1892 (fatally injured while riding horse) Sergeant Enos Molden, 1892 (shot) PC Andrew Albert Reuben Hancock, 1875 (attacked during a disturbance)
Units
Ports policing unit
The Wiltshire Police Ports Unit was established in April 2000. It is responsible for policing all non-designated airfields in Wiltshire, making sure that legislation is followed, particularly the Terrorism Act 2000. It also obtains any intelligence on smuggling and contraband. Ports in Wiltshire include Old Sarum Airfield and Clench Common Airfield.
Air support unit
The air support unit was officially created in the spring of 1990, but Wiltshire Police had been renting helicopters since the late 1980s. They experimented with fixed-wing aircraft, a Robinson Beta 22 helicopter and an Aérospatiale Gazelle, but later chose a Bolkow Bo 105 in 1990, which was used for seven years until it was replaced by a McDonnell Douglas MD 902 Explorer. This helicopter was shared with the Great Western Ambulance Service, an arrangement that was seen in only one other area of the country. Besides the pilot, the helicopter carried an observer and a paramedic. The air support unit was based at the headquarters in Devizes, where a hangar was built in 1993.
In 2014, the unit was merged into the National Police Air Service, meaning the force no longer owned or operated its own helicopter. From January 2015, the air ambulance function separated into Wiltshire Air Ambulance, a registered charity which operates its own helicopter; the charity leased the Devizes airbase until it moved to a newly built base near Melksham in June 2018.
Tri-force specialist operations unit Between 2013 and 2019, a collaboration with the Avon & Somerset and Gloucestershire forces covered roads policing, firearms and police dogs.
Governance , the Wiltshire Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) is Philip Wilkinson. The police and crime commissioner is scrutinised by the Wiltshire Police and Crime Panel, made up of elected councillors from the local authorities in the police area.
Before the first PCC was elected in 2012, the force was under the local oversight of the Wiltshire Police Authority. The police authority had nine councillor members, who were appointed from Wiltshire Council and Swindon Borough Council, and eight independent members, one of whom was a justice of the peace. The responsible government department is the Home Office.
Organisation Wiltshire Police has two divisions – Swindon and Wiltshire – incorporating eight Community Policing Team areas. SwindonRoyal Wootton BassettChippenhamDevizesSalisburyAmesburyTrowbridgeWarminsterHub stationGablecross, South MarstonRoyal Wootton BassettMonkton Park, ChippenhamDevizesBourne Hill, SalisburyAmesburyTrowbridgeWarminsterCoversSwindon, HighworthRoyal Wootton Bassett, Malmesbury, Cricklade, LynehamChippenham, Corsham, CalneDevizes, Marlborough, PewseySalisbury, Alderbury, WiltonAmesbury, Bulford, Durrington, Larkhill, Tidworth, Ludgershall, Perham DownBradford-on-Avon, Melksham, Trowbridge Westbury, Warminster, Mere
Rank structure A proposal was made in 2013 to abolish the rank of Chief Inspector, but this proposal was eventually scrapped.
Locations
The headquarters of Wiltshire Police is at London Road, Devizes, where it has always been because of its geographical position in the centre of Wiltshire. The operational headquarters are at Melksham for county division and Gablecross, South Marston, for Swindon division. The emergency communications centres for Wiltshire Police are at Devizes and Gablecross. The SNEN non-emergency call centre is at Devizes. Devizes is also the home of the Dog Squad and the training facilities for all new recruits.
There are enquiry offices at Gablecross, Chippenham, Marlborough, Trowbridge, Melksham (south of the town at Hampton Park) and Salisbury. Custody units are at Gablecross and Melksham.