Northamptonshire Police are the force responsible for the policing of the East Midlands county of the same name. The county of Northamptonshire covers an area of 914 square miles and has a population of nearly 650,000 inhabitants. Within the county lie several large towns, including the county town of Northampton, Wellingborough, Kettering, Daventry and Corby.
The force is currently led by Deputy Chief Constable Davina Logan. This position is on a temporary basis, until the newly appointed Chief Constable Adrian Lee takes his position. DCC Logan’s position is currently held by ACC Derek Talbot for this interim period. The force currently employs around 1,400 officers.
Northamptonshire Police History
Northamptonshire Constabulary was originally formed in 1840 and led by Chief Constable Joseph Ball. The police uniform at this time comprised of a blue ‘swallow tail’ coat, with nine buttons and matching trousers and an ‘S’ buckle belt. Officers also wore a top hat, which was re-enforced for protection. It also proved to be useful for officers to stand on, in order to see over tall walls and fences!
Further to the Police Act of 1964, which was introduced by the Home Secretary to amalgamate smaller forces into much larger and more efficient forces, Northamptonshire Constabulary was merged with Northampton Borough Police to become Northampton and County Constabulary. At this time the force comprised of just 442 officers.
The force then went on to become Northamptonshire Constabulary once again in January 1975. This was further to the Local Government Act of 1974, which reformed local government to allow one police force for each unitary county within the country.
Northamptonshire Police Today
The Northamptonshire Police Force is divided geographically into two basic command units, or BCUs. These are Northamptonshire West and Northamptonshire North. Each of these units are headed by a Chief Superintendent.
Northamptonshire Police are striving to implement and uphold their own Policing Pledge. Within this pledge the force will aim to deal with emergencies and non-emergencies within a certain agreed period of time. They will also agree to regularly update any victim of crime with any progress within that particular investigation.
Within their Policing Pledge, Northamptonshire Police will also provide the inhabitants of the county information about crime in their area, as well as details of any public meetings, where the population can meet local officers to discuss their concerns.
To conclude, Northamptonshire Police will adhere to their Policing Pledge as much as possible to enable them to reinforce their commitment to deliver a high quality policing service for local communities. They strive to do this by working with the community to keep them safe.
In order to help to implement their Policing Pledge, Northamptonshire Police have split the county into seven Safer Community Teams, to deliver visible and accessible policing to local communities. These teams comprise of the mainly urban sectors of Northampton, Kettering, Wellingborough and Corby. The mainly rural sectors are known as Daventry, East Northamptonshire and South Northamptonshire.
Northampton sector covers the areas in and around the county town. Serving a population of nearly 200,000, this is the largest and busiest sector force. The Northampton Community team is split into four further teams, led by four Inspectors.
As would be expected from a force policing a large town, the Community Team in Northampton focus on such issues as anti-social behaviour and drug abuse, especially within the town’s busy nightlife areas.
Kettering is the next largest sector, serving a population of around 80,000. This Community team is currently led by Inspector Richard Aistrop.
The Wellingborough Safer Community team serves a particularly culturally diverse population of around 75,000, and is led by Inspector Nick Lyall.
The industrial town of Corby, to the far north of the county, is served by the Safer Community team of the same name. The team is led by Inspector Gary Williams, serving a population of around 55,000.
The Daventry Safer Community Team serves the mainly rural population of 73,000 around the market towns of Daventry, situated to the west of the county. This team is led by Inspector Julia Potts.
The South Northamptonshire Safer Community Team police a larger, mainly rural area of the county. It also includes the market towns of Towcester and Brackley. This team is led by Inspector Alex Terry.
The East Northamptonshire Safer Community Team include the market towns of Oundle, Thrapston and Raunds, as well as the surrounding rural villages. Serving a population of around 85,000, the team is led by Inspector Vaughan Clarke.
Generally, within the area served by Northamptonshire Police, crime figures have decreased within the past year. This includes the number of burglaries, robberies and vehicle crimes, all of which have decreased by over 20%. Anti social behaviour crimes have decreased by nearly 6% over the last year, although violent crime has increased by 5%.
Crime rates vary throughout the county. In general the figures tend to be slightly higher than the national average to the west of the county and in and around Northampton town. The east of the county, to include the towns of Corby and Kettering, the crime figures are around the national average, although the more rural areas are much lower.
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