In the metropolitan county of Merseyside, a highly motivated and competent police force serves the community. Merseyside Police is a nationally-acclaimed police service and is one of the finest in the country.
As the territorial police serving Merseyside country, Merseyside Police covers a densely-populated area with around 1.3 million individuals distributed over roughly 250 square miles. The force is responsible for patrolling heavily urbanized locations. Accordingly, Merseyside Police relies on a force strength comprising of almost 4,500 police constables along with 420 special constables, more than 440 PCSOs, and about 2,220 staff members divided into six Basic Command Units. Each of the six metropolitan boroughs has its own BCU, namely Liverpool North, Liverpool South, Sefton, Wirra, St. Helens, and Knowsley. The force had inherited its area of responsibility in 1974 from Liverpool and Bootle Constabulary.
Over the recent years, Merseyside Police has been nationally honoured for its outstanding achievements. Chief among these is the recognition given by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) in 2010. HMIC ranked Merseyside Police as one of the best-performing police forces in the country when the force was given an “excellent” rating in one category of the HMIC review. Also in 2010, Merseyside Police won three honours during the national WOW! Awards. In that event the force scooped the awards “Serving the Community – Best Organization” as well as two other titles for individual constabularies. Moreover, at the National Justice Awards in 2009, Merseyside Police was awarded for outstanding witness protection and was highly commended for its work in victim support.
True to its many honours, Merseyside Police has demonstrated its effectiveness in dealing with criminality. According to the most recent crime statistics published in its website, there have been 7,762 fewer cases in a period 2010-2011 than previously in 2009-2010. This corresponds to an overall drop of 9% in offences. With such results, the force aims to maintain its level of performance as well as improving public satisfaction.
These highlights are indicators of a highly-motivated force which effectively uses resources to meet the unique challenges of the Merseyside area. Merseyside Police is truly “on the side of Mersey.”
