Wiltshire Police - History

History

Before 1839 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. Independent and private forces such as the Devizes Prosecution Society, emerged and continued to operate after Wiltshire Police was formed.

The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 meant that Salisbury Borough was formed and was required to have an official city force, that would replace the local force: New Sarum Police. The Salisbury City Police was founded in 1836 and continued to operate separately from Wiltshire Police until World War II when the two were temporarily amalgamated, however after the war ended the separation never occurred and Salisbury City Police ceased to exist. The official handover took place on 1 April 1943.

Later, in 1839 several groups of labourers rioted in many parts of the county over the price of food and the introduction of new farm equipment that was taking their jobs, they started fires and destroyed the farm equipment. In response to the 225 incidents, residents of Wiltshire called for the formation of a police force similar to Robert Peels Metropolitan Police force, whose 'A' division had visited in 1836 to help control riots. When the County Police Act 1839 was introduced Wiltshire leapt at the chance to form a police force. As a result Wiltshire Constabulary was established on Wednesday 13 November 1839 at The Bear Hotel, Devizes and was the first county police force to be formed, beating Gloucestershire by a few hours.

The first Chief Constable was Captain Samuel Meredith RN who placed an advertisement in the local paper to recruit 200 constables who were paid 17/6d a week. New Constables were given their uniform and an instruction booklet and then sent off to work without any training or guidance, it wasn't until 1843 (and later 1855) that they were given training. Wiltshire Constabulary started operating from January 1840 and had filled all most all its posts by summertime. 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.

Its motto, Primus et Optimus, means "the First and the Best".

Notable events for Wiltshire Police include the Rode Hill House Murder in 1860, the bomb explosion outside the Salisbury Guildhall in September 1884, the Trowbridge Christmas Eve murder in 1925 and escorting Louis Blériot when displaying his famous cross-channel airplane.

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. The police also had to deal with the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp who were protesting against nuclear weapons being kept in Greenham Common. Most significantly the 1980s saw the introduction of the Police National Computer, Command and Control systems and HOLMES investigation system. Also a national probationary training programme was introduced in all forces for new recruits.

In January 2008, Brian Moore was appointed as Chief Constable of Wiltshire Police. He took over following the departure of Martin Richards, who transferred to become Chief Constable of Sussex Police on 1 October 2007. The Deputy Chief Constable was former Wiltshire Assistant Chief Patrick Geenty. The Assistant Chief Constable is former Detective Chief Superintendent and Divisional Commander Mike Veale.

On 20 February 2012, Home Secretary Theresa May announced that the UK Border Agency would be split in half and the responsibilities of patrolling and enforcing the UK's border would be the job of the new UK Border Force, and that Chief Constable of Wiltshire Police Brian Moore, would be moving to be the new head of the UK Border Force starting March 2012. Until his replacements has been chosen the role has been filled by the deputy chief constable, now Temporary Chief Constable, Patrick Geenty. Under the leadership of Chief Constable Moore, Wiltshire Police became the safest county in the country.