Surrey Police Force

As the name suggests, Surrey Police Force is the Home Office force in operation for the county bearing the same name. There are currently nearly 2000 Police Officers; as well as nearly 300 Special Constables and over 200 Police Community Support officers employed to enforce the law for a population of nearly 1.1 million people.

The county is split into three divisions, North, West and East, with its headquarters based at Mount Browne in Guildford. Although there are a total of twenty four stations situated throughout the county. The force area was expanded in 2000, to include the former Metropolitan District boroughs of Epsom and Ewell, Spelthorne and part of Reigate and Banstead. The force is currently led by Chief Constable Mark Rowley.

History of the Surrey Police Force

Surrey Constabulary was established on the 1st January 1851. The first Chief Constable was Captain Hastings, who held this position for the next 48 years. In contrast to today’s force, a mere 70 officers were employed to police the entire county. As there were no policies or procedures and few precedents in place at this time for finding new officers, the main qualifications sought were for candidates to be honest and sober, over five foot seven inches tall and under thirty years of age. There were no lower age restrictions in place at that time, the youngest officer was just 14 years old. The Captain had a preference to employ applicants who had previously served with His Majesty’s Forces, or had served in another county’s police force. The first Police Officer to be employed by the force was William Henry Biddlecombe.

Dorking was originally planned to be the headquarters for the force, however, when the towns of Guildford and Reigate were incorporated into the force, after previously having there own separate borough forces, the site for the headquarters was selected as the old Guildford Borough Police Station, at the Corn Market House. This was then relocated to Woodbridge Road in 1854, until being finally moved to the present site, Mount Browne in 1949, observed by the then Chief Constable; Joseph Simpson.

To mark the 150^th Anniversary of the force, a museum was opened in Mount Browne by Surrey resident Sir Michael Caine, on the 22^nd October 2001. The museum includes artefacts and displays, allowing the public to observe the force’s history throughout the years.

In the late summer of 1968, the force experienced a real natural catastrophe. In September of this year the county recorded its heaviest rainfall for many years. The town of Hambledon was particularly badly affected with major floods and subsequent collapsed bridges, trees and landslides to contend with. It became such a major incident that the military services were also involved in evacuating over 1800 residents. Considering the scale of the disaster, luckily, only two people lost their lives, mainly due to the organisational skills of the force and all other assistance involved.

Although the crime rates in Surrey have always traditionally been one of the lowest in the country, the force has always had its share of incidents to investigate. Few have been more prominent in its history than the murder of one of its own officers, P.C. John Schofield in July 1974. He was shot dead by Egon Von Bulow. This tragedy occurred following a routine patrol in the early hours of the 6^th of this month with his colleagues, P.C. Ray Fullalove and P.S. Harley James Findlay, who were also shot, but not fatally. Mr Bulow was later charged with murder and sentenced to twenty years imprisonment.

The Force Today

As previously mentioned, Surrey Police Force is fortunate in experiencing one of the lowest crime rates in the country. The overall statistics show that all crime sectors are lower that average in all three divisions of the force, with robbery and anti-social behaviour in decline. The rates for vehicle crime, burglary and violence have increased slightly overall, but are still lower that the national average. However, much of this must be attributed to the fact that the county of Surry is one of the most affluent in the entire United Kingdom. Poverty and homelessness problems are not as much of a problem here, as they are in most other parts of the country. Therefore it is necessary to place such statistics into the correct context.

To retain its impressively low crime statistics, in 2006 Surrey Police became one of the first forces in the country to initiate its own Initial Police Learning and Development Program (IPLDP), for new recruits. The training is completed in seven months at the Mount Browne headquarters, however, they receive their warrant cards and uniform within their first week of training. Once trained, the officers are posted to a local division, where they remain on probation for two years. They are also subject to an ongoing training programme to gain a National Vocational Qualification in Policing.

The Air Operations unit for the Surrey force is based at Fairoaks Airport in Chobham. The force has the use of one helicopter, a Eurocopter EC135, which is used for surveillance work and search operations (i.e. for a missing person or to follow a suspect when vehicle access is not possible). This unit also works in close co-operation with the neighbouring Metropolitan and Sussex Forces, with whom there have been recent discussions to merge.

Since its introduction in 1997, the Surrey Police Information and Knowledge Environment System (SPIKE) has proven to be a useful technological development within the force, allowing officers the ability to connect to all information sources throughout the force. The system is now in place in every station throughout the county. The force has received an IT award for its use.

Another fairly recent development within the force has been the introduction of CS sprays, for which the Surrey Force was involved in initial street trials in 1995.

Today, one of the major concerns for Surrey Police Force, as well as the majority of forces throughout the country, is that of the misuse of drugs and the related crimes. The West Division area, focusing on Guildford, seems to be experiencing the biggest issue at the present time, particularly in the Park Barn area. Here, police had observed drug deals taking place on a regular basis and for some time, before launching a series of successful raids under a continuing operation, code-named Dragnet.

As is the case throughout the country, Surrey Police Force has initiated a total of 106 Safer Neighbourhood Policing Teams throughout the county, helping to keep the county safe and secure.

To return to the list of police forces please click here: Police History