Staffordshire Police

Staffordshire Police is theterritorial police force responsible for policingStaffordshire andStoke-on-Trent in theWest Midlands ofEngland. It is made up of 11 local policing teams, whose boundaries are matched to the nine local authorities within Staffordshire.

Staffordshire Police

Agency overview
Formed	1 January 1968; 57 years ago (1968-01-01)
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction	Staffordshire,UK

Map of Staffordshire Police's jurisdiction
Size	2,713 square kilometres (1,047 sq mi)
Population	approx. 1,062,500
Constituting instrument	Police Act 1996
General nature	Local civilian police
Operational structure
Overseen by	His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services Independent Office for Police Conduct
Headquarters	Stafford
Sworn members	1,829 (of which 120 arespecial constables)^[1]
Police, fire and crime commissioner responsible	Ben Adams
Agency executive	Chris Noble, Chief constable
Divisions	Area Trent Valley Chase North Staffs Stoke-On-Trent
Facilities
Stations	19
Website
www.staffordshire.police.uk

History

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Pre-1968 Staffordshire police helmet, in the collection ofStaffordshire County Museum

A combined force covering Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, calledStaffordshire County and Stoke-on-Trent Constabulary, was established on 1 January 1968, as a merger of theStaffordshire County Police andStoke-on-Trent City Police. This force lost areas to the newWest Midlands Police in 1974 under theLocal Government Act 1972 and adopted a shorter name.^[2]

Under proposals made by theHome Secretary on 6 February 2006, it would have merged withWarwickshire Constabulary,West Mercia Constabulary andWest Midlands Police to form a single strategic force for theWest Midlands region.^[3] However these plans have not been taken forward largely due to public opposition.

For 2005/06 Staffordshire police topped theHome Office chart as being the best performing police force inEngland and Wales.^[4]

Chief constables

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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^[5]
2021: Emma Barnett (temporary)
2021–present: Chris Noble

Officers killed in the line of duty

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ThePolice Roll of Honour Trust andPolice 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:^[6]

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

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

Great Britain Police ranks and insignia
Rank	Chief constable	Deputy chief constable	Assistant chief constable	Chief superintendent	Superintendent	Chief inspector	Inspector	Sergeant	Constable
Epaulette insignia

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 aroads policing unit (RPU) who police the roads across the county, focusing efforts elsewhere than motorways which are policed by the Central Motorway Police Group (CMPG).

Staffordshire Police is one of two forces involved in theCentral Motorway Police Group along with West Midlands Police. This unit provides roads policing for the motorway network in the West Midlands (mainly M5, M6 and M42).

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 equivalent to £1,094,434 in 2023) in costs.^[7]

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.^[8]^[9]

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

The authority was abolished in November 2012,^[10]following the election of the firstStaffordshire Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), Matthew Ellis. The office of thepolice 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 ofStaffordshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Staffordshire Police Cadets

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Staffordshire Police van

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 manyspecial constables, regularpolice 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.^[11]