Apolice area is the area for which aterritorial police force in theUnited Kingdom is responsible forpolicing.
Every location in theUnited Kingdom has a designated territorial police force with statutory responsibility for providing policing services and enforcing criminal law, which is set out in the various police areas below.Special police forces and other non-territorial constabularies do not have police areas and their respective specialist areas of responsibility are shared with the relevant geographic territorial police force.
Ultimately the chief officer of a territorial police force has primacy over all law enforcement within his police area[1] even if it is within the remit of a special police force such as theBritish Transport Police on the railway infrastructure, theMinistry of Defence Police on MOD property or a port constabulary on a port.[2]
TheMetropolitan Police District was the first example of a police area. Police areas were introduced with the passage of thePolice Act 1964 andPolice (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 bySection 1 of thePolice Act 1996.
There are 43 police areas inEngland and Wales, most of which are defined bySchedule 1 of the 1996 act. They may be altered by order of theHome Secretary.[3] The two other areas, the Metropolitan Police District and the City of London police area, are defined bySection 76 of theLondon Government Act 1963 and the City of London Police Act 1839 respectively.
Northern Ireland and Scotland each have only one territorial police force: thePolice Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) andPolice Service of Scotland.