A police area is the area for which a territorial police force in the United Kingdom is responsible for policing. Every location in the United 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 responsibilty 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 even if is within the remit of a special police force such as the British Transport Police on the railway infrastructure or the Ministry of Defence Police on MOD property. [edit] 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 & Wales, most of which are defined by Schedule 1 of the 1996 act. They may be altered by order of the Home Secretary.[1] 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. [edit] Current Police Areas of England, Wales & Scotland Police Areas of England | Police Area | Extent | | Avon & Somerset Constabulary | The county of Somerset and the non-metropolitan districts of Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, North West Somerset and South Gloucestershire | | Bedfordshire Police | The county of Bedfordshire and the non-metropolitan district of Luton | | Cambridgeshire Constabulary | The county of Cambridgeshire and the non-metropolitan district of Peterborough | | Cheshire Constabulary | The county of Cheshire and the non-metropolitan districts of Halton and Warrington | | City of London Police | The City of London including the Inner Temple & Middle Temple | | Cleveland Police | The non-metropolitan districts of Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees | | Cumbria Constabulary | The county of Cumbria | | Derbyshire Constabulary | The county of Derbyshire and the non-metropolitan district of Derby | | Devon and Cornwall Constabulary | The counties of Devon and Cornwall and the non-metropolitan districts of Plymouth and Torbay and the Isles of Scilly | | Dorset Police | The county of Dorset and the non-metropolitan districts of Bournemouth and Poole | | Durham Constabulary | The county of Durham and the non-metropolitan district of Darlington | | Essex Police | The county of Essex and the non-metropolitan districts of Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock | | Gloucestershire Constabulary | The county of Gloucestershire | | Greater Manchester Police | The metropolitan districts of Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan | | Hampshire Constabulary | The counties of Hampshire and Isle of Wight and the non-metropolitan districts of Portsmouth and Southampton | | Hertfordshire Constabulary | The county of Hertfordshire | | Humberside Police | The non-metropolitan districts of the East Riding of Yorkshire, Kingston upon Hull, North East Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire | | Kent Police | The county of Kent and the non-metropolitan district of Medway Towns | | Lancashire Constabulary | The county of Lancashire and the non-metropolitan districts of Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool | | Leicestershire Constabulary | The county of Leicestershire and the non-metropolitan districts of Leicester and Rutland | | Lincolnshire Police | The county of Lincolnshire | | Merseyside Police | The metropolitan districts of Knowsley, Liverpool, St. Helens, Sefton and Wirral | | Metropolitan Police | Greater London, excluding the City of London and the Inner Temple and Middle Temple | | Norfolk Constabulary | The county of Norfolk | | Northamptonshire Police | The county of Northamptonshire | | Northumbria Police | The county of Northumberland and the metropolitan districts of Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Sunderland | | North Yorkshire | The county of North Yorkshire and the non-metropolitan district of York | | Nottinghamshire Police | The county of Nottinghamshire and the non metropolitan district of Nottingham | | South Yorkshire Police | The metropolitan districts of Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield | | Staffordshire Police | The county of Staffordshire and the non-metropolitan district of Stoke-on-Trent | | Suffolk Constabulary | The county of Suffolk | | Surrey Police | The county of Surrey | | Sussex Police | The counties of East Sussex and West Sussex and the non-metropolitan district of Brighton and Hove | | Thames Valley Police | The counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire and the non-metropolitan district of Milton Keynes | | Warwickshire Police | The county of Warwickshire | | West Mercia Police | The counties of Shropshire and Worcestershire and the non-metropolitan districts of Herefordshire and The Wrekin | | West Midlands Police | The metropolitan districts of Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, [[Walsall] and Wolverhampton | | West Yorkshire Police | The metropolitan districts of Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield | | Wiltshire Constabulary | The county of Wiltshire and the non-metropolitan district of Thamesdown | Police Areas of Scotland | Police Area | Extent | | Central Scotland Police | The council areas of Clackmannanshire, Falkirk and Stirling | | Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary | The council area of Dumfries and Galloway | | Fife Constabulary | The council area of Fife | | Grampian Police | The council areas of Aberdeenshire, the City of Aberdeen and Moray | | Lothian and Borders Police | The council areas of the City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Scottish Borders, Midlothian and West Lothian | | Northern Constabulary | The council areas of Highland, Orkney, Shetland and Na h-Eileanan Siar | | Strathclyde Police | The council areas of Argyll and Bute, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, City of Glasgow, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire and West Dunbartonshire | | Tayside Police | The council areas of Angus, City of Dundee and Perth & Kinross | [edit] See also [edit] References |
