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The Dorset constabulary has the challenge of policing the county of Dorset in South-West England. Dorset has a very unbalanced population in that 51% of the population live in only 5% of the land area. The total population is 687,000 and the busiest areas are the tourist hotspots of Poole and Bournemouth. The population rises by around 300,000 in the tourist season.
Very recently the force has been divided into two divisions; Poole and Bournemouth as of 2008 and has the intention of creating a police force which is more in tune with the needs of the local communities. These are further broken down into neighbourhood teams which comprise of a handful of officers and support officers.
The sunny façade of the tourist destinations are not, however, to be mistake for a crime free zone. In fact, there are 290 999 calls on average every day in just Dorset alone and 172 crimes recorded. If that's not impressive then the police vehicles rack up over 17,000 miles per day.
History of the Dorset Constabulary
The constabulary dates back to 1855 and merged with Bournemouth police force in 1967 and the newly enlarged force took over the policing of a few areas from Hampshire police force in 1974.
In 1965, the establishment of the Dorset police force was just 544, with 466 police officers. This is a huge contrast with the force as we see it today. Over the years from 1965 leading up to the present day, the increase in the area's population and increases in police requirements has lead to a far more increased police force.
In 1996 the Police Act defined Dorset as a constabulary and, also in recent times, the force has established a departments for lesbian and gay relationships. The force also acquired laglos who are trained to deal with issues concerning alternative sexualities and gender issues.
Special officers have been employed in Dorset long before the police force was even established; the Special Constable Act of 1831 was passed before there was a police force in Dorset. The area, like many others, was policed by special constables during the world wars as many police officers had been recruited to fight for their country. Due to this service, their role is still a necessary part of policing today.
The modern Dorset Constabulary
Dorset is one of the safest areas of the country and to add to this level of safety, crime fell by 4.3% according to the crime map between 2008 and 2009. To achieve this, there are 2,681 employees and 295 volunteers working for the Dorset police force. Of these, 1,813 are police officers, and 151 are police community support officers. There are 24 police stations in Dorset and the total budget is £107.8 million.
Like many police constabularies, the Dorset police force has set out its intentions by making a pledge. It's number one priority in this statement is to act with integrity, entailing treating everyone with fairness and respect. The other theme which is recurring throughout the pledge is the neighbourhood police teams and their commitment to making the area of Dorset a much safer place to live. S
Some of the priorities of the police force in Dorset are: To reduce violent crime, to reduce road casualties and to reduce the anti-social crime which is affecting its communities. This includes crimes such as burglary and vehicle crime. Even though Dorset has one of the lowest crime rates in the country, there are still some problem areas and this is where the police force in Dorset has concentrated its efforts. This is otherwise known as volume crime.
The Dorset Constabulary has a community engagement team; this is responsible for ensuring the diversity of its force and putting good practices into place. This is run alongside its youth programmes and helps to ensure that the force meets in pledged priorities.
Also in the pledge, the Dorset constabulary aims to answer every 999 call within ten seconds and to be on scene within 10 minutes for urban areas and 20 minutes for rural areas. They also have a policy of giving an estimated time of arrival on scene.
On a very local note, the police force of Dorset aims to ensure that 80% of police patrol time is spent in the neighbourhood area and also has made a commitment to reduce staff turnover as much as possible. Any message or report sent to a neighbourhood policing team is to be dealt with within less than 24 hours.
In order to reduce crime, the Dorset constabulary operated a Safe Schools Team with the scope to improving local communities through education of anti-social behaviour and similar volume crimes. They work closely with the Youth offending team, or YOT for short, which was established in 2005.
The job of policing the police, or so to speak, falls with the Dorset Police Authority. The authority is charged with and maintains an effective police service in the area. The authority is made up of nine council members and eight independent members. Their role is to consult the public and to thus ensure that their needs are being met by the police force or by the relevant police department.
Dorset Police run several initiatives which are aimed at improving trust and confidence in the police force; this has been given the name ‘Justice seen, justice done’. These schemes engage with the public and allow them to see for themselves exactly how justice is being carried out.
The Behind bars scheme is part of this initiative and shows members of the community who have been put behind bars; this information is available on the Dorset police website. This shows the public that the police are there to help and gives physical evidence of what is being done to make their communities safer. This a quite a unique scheme in that it openly makes information available on who has been prosecuted on the internet.
Community Payback is another similar scheme which is based upon the community service punishment that can be handed out to some offenders. The work that is done by such offenders for the community is called community payback and this information is also shared with the community, in line with the Dorset constabulary's policy of openness and community support. This scheme was introduced with a new tunnelling complex in Buddens camping centre. It was the largest project completed by convicts ever and a great testament to the scheme. Members of the community are also able to suggest projects that should be taken on by the offenders.
One could say that Dorset Constabulary have an easy job given that they work in one of the country's safest areas. However, there has to be a reason for this and the crime prevention and community work of the force members has to be a part of it. The force is in touch with the local community and provides support to the local residents in keeping with its pledge of integrity.
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