Staffordshire Police

History

A combined force covering Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, called Staffordshire County and Stoke-on-Trent Constabulary, was established on 1 January 1968, as a merger of the Staffordshire County Police and Stoke-on-Trent City Police. This force lost areas to the new West Midlands Police in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 and adopted a shorter name.

Under proposals made by the Home Secretary on 6 February 2006, it would have merged with Warwickshire Constabulary, West Mercia Constabulary and West Midlands Police to form a single strategic force for the West Midlands region. However these plans have not been taken forward largely due to public opposition.

For 2005/06 Staffordshire police topped the Home Office chart as being the best performing police force in England and Wales.

Chief constables

• 1842–1857: John Hayes Hatton
• 1857–??: Lt-Col Gilbert Hogg
• 1888–1929: George Augustus Anson
• 1929–1951: Colonel Sir Herbert Hunter
• 1951–1960: George William Richard Hearn
• 1960–1964: Stanley Edwards Peck
• 1964–1977: Arthur Rees
• 1977–1996: Charles Henry Kelly
• 1996–2006: John Giffard
• 2006–2007: David Swift
• 2007–2009: Chris Sims
• 2009–2015: Mike Cunningham
• 2015–2017: Jane Sawyers
• 2017–2021: Gareth Morgan
• 2021: Emma Barnett (temporary)
• 2021–present: Chris Noble

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 Staffordshire Police are listed by the Trust as having died attempting to prevent, stop or solve a crime, since the turn of the 20th century:

• PC William Ezra Price, 1903 (fatally injured attempting to arrest three men)
• PC Brinley James Booth, 1946 (bludgeoned to death while attempting to arrest a suspect)
• PC John David Taylor, 1986 (pushed out of a building by a suspect)

Organisation

Staffordshire Police operates with the same rank structure as other Home Office forces in Britain.

Presently, the force operates with a senior leadership team consisting of a chief constable, deputy chief constable, two assistant chief constables and civilian assistant chief officer.

Staffordshire Police has a roads policing unit (RPU) who police the roads across the county, as of 2024 the unit is split into two teams, the Road Crime Team and Road Harm Team, the latter of which focussing on aspects such as traffic enforcement allowing the RCT to focus on a more intelligence-lead role.

Staffordshire Police was one of two forces involved in the Central Motorway Police Group along with West Midlands Police. This unit provided roads policing for the motorway network in the West Midlands (mainly M5, M6 and M42) until September 2024 when CMPG was disbanded.

Staffordshire Police had a mounted division until 1999, when it was disbanded as part of cost-saving measures that saw 250 jobs cut from the force. Twelve jobs were lost with the closure of the division and the twelve horses from the division were sold on the private market, saving the force £500,000 per year (equivalent to ) in costs.

In September 2008, the force announced that it intended to vacate the Cannock Road HQ Site and sell it for housing development, moving HQ staff to Lanchester Court, next to the existing Weston Road premises.{{cite web

Staffordshire Police Authority, a separate organisation charged with oversight of the force, had 9 councillors (drawn from both Staffordshire County Council and Stoke-on-Trent City Council), 3 justices of the peace, and 5 independent members.

The authority was abolished in November 2012, following the election of the first Staffordshire Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), Matthew Ellis. The office of the police and crime commissioner and the individual elected is responsible for reducing crime and making the area they represent safer. The PCC decides how much council tax people will pay towards community safety services and policing and is personally accountable for all the public money spent, they are also responsible for communicating and representing public interests in the force area and holding the Chief Constable to account.

In 2021, Ben Adams was elected as the new Police, Fire and Crime commissioner, a role previously expanded to include oversight of Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Staffordshire Police Cadets

The Staffordshire Police Cadet scheme aims to strengthen links between the police and young people and promote good citizenship. The programme's chief officer is Chief Superintendent Elliot Sharrad William. The programs deputy chief officer (DCO) is also the DCO of the Special Constabulary; the cadets force also has many special constables, regular police constables and PSV's (police service volunteers) that assist in the running of the units.

The scheme has a ranking system similar to that of the Special Constabulary. This ranking system contains a head cadet, deputy head cadet, section leaders, and then the rank of cadet. There is also a ranking system for the volunteer leaders. This contains a unit commander, deputy unit commander, leaders, young leaders. The rank insignia is the same as the Special Constabulary in the sense of using bars to represent the rank.

References

References

1. [http://www.knowledgenetwork.gov.uk/HO/CircularsOld.nsf/0/E339E6817A8A83C080256D7300428038/$file/Home%20Office%20Circular%20008%20-%201968.pdf Home Office circular] (''link no longer functioning, and document not found on http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/circulars'')
2. (6 February 2006). "Police mergers outlined by Clarke". BBC News.
3. (24 October 2006). "Police forces' success compared". BBC.
4. Knapper, Dave. (19 June 2017). "New Staffordshire Police Chief Constable Gareth Morgan outlines priorities". [[Stoke Sentinel]].
5. "Police Roll of Honour Trust".
6. "New 24/7 road crime team introduced to tackle priorities in Staffordshire".
7. "Road harm team officers drive home safety message".
8. Doohan, Steve. (29 October 1999). "Mounted force to be disbanded". Burton Mail.
9. (10 April 2009). "Police plan housing at HQ".
10. "Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 (Section 1)". UK Legislation.
11. "Staffordshire Police Cadets".