Gloucestershire Constabulary

Infobox UK Police
name= Gloucestershire Constabulary
area= Gloucestershire
start= 1974 (merger)
population= 564,000
size= 1,025 sq miles
officers= 1,251
title= Chief Constable
head= Dr Timothy Brain
divname= Divisions
divno= 3
stations=
HQ= Quedgeley

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web= [http://www.gloucestershire.police.uk/ Gloucestershire Constabulary]

Gloucestershire Constabulary is the Home Office police force responsible for policing the non-metropolitan county of Gloucestershire in England. (South Gloucestershire is covered by Avon and Somerset Constabulary).

The force has three divisions
* Forest and Gloucester
* Cheltenham and Tewkesbury
* Cotswold and Stroud

Each division is divided intoinspector-led neighbourhood areas (INAs) within a geographical policing model; there are a total of 17 INAs. Gloucestershire Constabulary’s geographical policing structure has been in place since1998. Each INA is also coterminous within a district council, which is aimed to facilitate effective partnership working at local level.

The establishment as at 31 March 2006 was1,351 full-time equivalent (FTE) police officers and 783.5 FTE police support staff (including
Civillian Staff and police community support officers (PCSOs)), supported by 146 specialconstables.

History

The force was founded in 1839. The force in its present form dates from April 1 1974, when the southern part of Gloucestershire became part of the County of Avon and thus of the newly formed Avon and Somerset Constabulary.

In 1965, the force had an establishment of 1,010 and an actual strength of 867. ["The Thin Blue Line", Police Council for Great Britain Staff Side Claim for Undermanning Supplements, 1965]

Controversy

Race and Sex Discrimination in Recruitment

In November 2006 a tribunal ruled that the constabulary had illegally discriminated against 108 white male candidates it had rejected from its recruitment process solely because of their race and gender. Matt Powell, one of the "randomly deselected" candidates took legal action and was awarded £2,500 compensation. The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) and the Equal Opportunities Commission who led the investigation stated that the Gloucestershire Police had unlawfully discriminated on the grounds of race and gender. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/gloucestershire/5369876.stm BBC NEWS | England | Gloucestershire | Force admits rejecting white men ] ] [ [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=406385&in_page_id=1770 Police force admits discriminating against white recruits | the Daily Mail ] ]

ee also

* List of police forces in the United Kingdom
* Policing in the United Kingdom

References

External links

* [http://www.gloucestershire.police.uk/ Gloucestershire Constabulary]