History
The Metropolitan Police District was the first example of a police area - when it was created, all other police forces were responsible for one county or county borough only. Police areas were introduced with the passage of the Police Act 1964 and Police (Scotland) Act 1967, when a number of small (mainly county borough) police forces were merged with county ones.
The current system of police areas in England and Wales is set out by Section 1 of the Police Act 1996.
There are 43 police areas in England and Wales, most of which are defined by Schedule 1 of the 1996 act. They may be altered by order of the Home Secretary. The two other areas, the Metropolitan Police District and the City of London police area, are defined by Section 76 of the London Government Act 1963 and the City of London Police Act 1839 respectively.
In Northern Ireland and Scotland, there is only one police force: the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and Police Service of Scotland.
Read more about this topic: Police Area
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