Sussex Police Force

As with many other police forces across the United Kingdom, the Sussex Police Force has only existed in its present form since the 1960s. Today, the force is responsible for policing the two administratively separate counties of West Sussex and East Sussex. It also has the newly appointed city of Brighton and Hove within its boundaries.

Sussex Police has its headquarters based in the town of Lewes. It has some 3,400 police officers working within the area and covers 5 separate divisions. These are; West Downs, North Downs, Gatwick Airport, Brighton and Hove and East Sussex and the current Chief Constable is Martin Richards MSc QPM.

The History of Sussex Police

Prior to 1^st January 1968, Sussex Police was rather confusingly split into a number of separate police forces. These were forces for each county of Sussex (both West and East), as well as separate forces in the boroughs of Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings. These forces amalgamated temporarily during the Second World War, between 1943 to 1947, but then policing in this part of southern England reverted back to the old system for another two decades.

The Sussex Police Force are one of the few across the country that celebrates its historical past to such a large extent. Testimony for this can be seen through the fact that they actually have a museum that is dedicated to showing visitors how things were done in the past. This includes the chance to view the actual cells that were used to incarcerate Victorian criminals; as well as being able to glimpse other sections of the historic police station. This museum is based in central Brighton and is well worth paying a visit to - for shear educational value alone. There are also plenty of old photos and a plethora of policing memorabilia.

Policing in the county can be traced back to the first force that was established in the town of Brighton - in 1830. Only a few years passed, when the Chief Constable was actually murdered in his own office, within the police station. This remains the only such case of its kind to this day.

In 1844, Chief Constable Solomon was interviewing a man who was suspected of having stolen a carpet, along with one other man. During this time, the man struck this officer on the side of his head with a poker and as this was witnessed by three other people - the man, by the name of John Lawrence, was later hanged for all of the public to see, in Horsham. This Police Officer’s ghost is still said to haunt this building today.

Prior to the official police force in Brighton, local watchmen were appointed to provide some degree of law enforcement in the area. In 1812, there were some 12 watchmen who were responsible for the town. By 1814, there were another 16 more watchmen and at this time, the title of ‘constable’ was in use for them.

The uniforms worn at this time were far removed from what one would expect a police officer to be wearing. The attire consisted of a top hat, black tail coat and white trousers. They also carried a rattle and a baton. Interestingly, these officers actually provided the local residents with something of a weather forecasting and speaking-clock service combined, as they were required to shout out this information until as late as 1829. It would not be until 1868 that helmets replaced the top hats and at this time, the force consisted of 100 officers.

In 1918, the first woman was appointed as a police officer in this force and by 1930 there were many more officers working - in fact this number had increased quite substantially - to 216 officers. Brighton Police were the first force to introduce police radios and this transpired on the 14^th September 1933.

Sussex Police Today

What a long way this police force has come over the years. From a workforce of only a couple of hundred officers a century ago, this has increased more than thirty-fold to well over 3,000 officers today. Also, the population of Sussex, along with most of the rest of the country, has continued to increase and the Sussex force has a total population of over one and a half million citizens today.

In 2006, there were plans to merge the Sussex Police with the county of Surrey, but these were abandoned later in the same year. This was a welcome decision for all people connected with the force and such a merger was always viewed as unpopular.

The Sussex Police force has joint-ownership of a helicopter and this is shared with the South East Coast Ambulance Service. Therefore, policing and medical assistance can be shared and this helps to cut back on the costs of solely-owning such an expensive piece of equipment.

As with many other police forces at the moment, Sussex Police is also reporting a drop in crime levels, compared with previous years. Obviously, this is always good news and recorded crimes have fallen by an average of 2.5 per cent per month, compared with the same time last year. This equates to an average of just over 9,000 crimes per month - which some people may view as still being quite high.

Much of Sussex is relatively rural and there are no huge conurbations within the force’s jurisdiction. Brighton and Hove is the largest city and the fact that this is a magnet for tourists and party revellers, can lead to exasperated and drink-related crime levels.

The force is also responsible for policing Gatwick Airport, which only just comes under its territory, near the border with Surrey. All-in-all, no doubt the Sussex police would agree that this part of England is definitely one of the best places to live in the country and they do make every effort to keep their crime statistics as low as possible.

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