Police (UK)

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Metropolitan Police Cap of London
Traffic police cruiser of the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary , England
Essex Police Service Cap
Police patrol car of the London Metropolitan Police
Helmet of the West Mercia Constabulary

The police force in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is not organized uniformly. Historically, as in France , they have developed partly from civil and partly from military organizations.

The police officers are often called Bobby after the Home Secretary Robert Peel , who shaped the British police system in the 19th century . This rather well-meaning nickname is also widely known abroad. Bobsleighs traditionally do not carry firearms , only batons , but since the attacks they have increasingly been seen with firearms.

structure

Bobsledding during an arrest in 1919

The majority of the police force are territorial police forces , which are responsible for individual regions of the United Kingdom and often emerged from historical predecessor organizations. However, this concept of the territorial police is not legally defined. The term home office police is also used synonymously . However, this term is less meaningful as it does not apply outside of England and Wales and includes special police that are under the Home Office . The territorial police are independent authorities and are on an equal footing with one another. The fact that the Metropolitan Police Service in London is the oldest criminal investigation service in Great Britain (founded in 1829 in the Scotland Yard building ) has given this agency a large archive and extensive experience in the field of crime prevention and investigation over time . As a result, London Criminal Police officers were asked for assistance by other police forces in England and Wales early on. The service district of a territorial police force is the police area .

There are also the three special police forces , the British Transport Police , the Civil Nuclear Constabulary and the Ministry of Defense Police . The special police are not limited to a district, but to a subject area and the associated spatial area. For example, the rights of the British Transport Police on railway premises are the same as those of the Territorial Police and are restricted outside of this premises. This restriction does not apply to administrative assistance and imminent danger. The special constables, on the other hand, are police volunteers who serve with both territorial and special police forces.

In addition, there are also private constabularies that exercise police or security tasks on the basis of historical rights or on the basis of common law . They are restricted to certain areas or activities such as harbors and parks. Before the Serious Organized Crime and Police Act 2005 came into force, they were also referred to as special police forces . This term is sometimes still used colloquially for them, although it is no longer correct. They are not subject to police law, but other regulations that apply to dock or port facilities, for example. The British Transport Police also operated in this status until the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003 came into force.

There are also law enforcement agencies that enforce regulations without being a police agency. Neither do their servants have the status of police officers.

The various structural reforms in the police force have made it impossible to tell whether a police officer reports to the Ministry of Defense or the Ministry of the Interior, as they all wear the same uniform. The colors of the emergency vehicles only differ in their intended use, but not in their affiliation. Only police-owned aircraft such as helicopters are painted differently from police to police.

Using London as an example, it is also easy to show how the British police are sometimes organized with several authorities in one place, as there are four authorities with police force: the Metropolitan Police, the City of London Police responsible for the City of London , the British Transport Police and the Harbor Authorithies .

In the wake of the terrorist attacks on July 7, 2005 in London , renewed attempts were made to reform the British police force at the national level and to unify them structurally throughout the UK. This failed due to the influence of conservative and local patriotic political forces, who took the view that precisely this event had shown how well the various police forces worked together.

Legal bases

The legal bases for the Territorial Police are the Police Act 1964 for England and Wales, the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 for Scotland and the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000 for Northern Ireland, with which only the Royal Ulster Constabulary in Police Service of Northern Ireland was renamed. These laws define the rights and obligations of the police authorities, whereby the full rights and obligations exist only in the respective area of ​​law and are restricted in the other two areas. This does not apply if the police act to provide administrative assistance in another district or if prisoners are transported.

Ranks

Most law enforcement agencies have the ranks constable, sergeant, inspector, chief inspector, superintendent, chief superintendent, assistant chief constable, deputy chief constable, and chief constable. The ranks from constable to chief superintendent are preceded by a “police” for uniformed officers or a “detective” for non-uniformed officers. Ranks from Assistant Chief Constable are referred to as Senior Officers . In this area, some authorities have additional or different names. Sometimes there are also fewer ranks at port police authorities.

Police authorities

England

London region

Eastern region

South East Region

South West Region

East Midlands Region

West Midlands Region

North East Region

North West Region

Scotland

Wales

Northern Ireland

Special police

National level

  • National Crime Agency
  • Royal Military Police

Web links

Commons : Police (United Kingdom)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files