The force serves a population of 500,000 across an area of 2,634 square miles (6,820 km2).[2]
There are significant areas of isolated and rural community, and the area has one of the smallest visible minority ethnic populations in the country at under 3.0%. Each year, the force's area, which incorporates the Lake District National Park, attracts over 23million visitors from all over the world (46 times the local population). The area has 67 miles (108 km) of motorway and some 700 miles (1,100 km) of trunk and primary roads.
Cumberland and Westmorland Constabulary was formed in 1856. In 1947 this force absorbed Kendal Borough Police. Less than 20 years later this amalgamated force absorbed Carlisle City Police to form a force broadly the same as today's force called the Cumberland, Westmorland and Carlisle Constabulary. In 1965, it had an establishment of 652 and an actual strength of 617.[6] In 1967 the force name was changed to Cumbria Constabulary.
The Home Secretary proposed on 6 February 2006 to merge it with Lancashire Constabulary. These proposals were accepted by both forces on 25 February and the merger would have taken place on 1 April 2007.[7] However, in July 2006, the Cumbria and Lancashire forces decided not to proceed with the merger because the Government could not remedy issues with the differing council tax precepts.[8]
The Police Roll of Honour Trust and Police Memorial Trust list and commemorate all British police officers killed in the line of duty. Since its establishment in 1984, the Police Memorial Trust has erected 50 memorials nationally to some of those officers.[19]
Thomas Jardine was unlawfully killed during election riots near the Market Cross in Carlisle. On the night of 29 June 1841, he was struck with a sailor's 'Life Preserver', a lead weighted whalebone, and died the next morning, 30 June. Two men stood trial for murder, one was convicted of manslaughter and the other acquitted. His assailant was transported to Van Diemen's Land for life. Jardine was buried in Christ Church on Botchergate in the city and lies in an unmarked grave.
Constable James Armstrong died on 30 September 1847 making his way back at night from Pooley Bridge to his town of Keswick. He fell over a crag having got disorientated in the dark after losing his way.
Cumbria Police Van, 2012On 29 October 1885 Pc Byrnes, an officer with the then Cumberland and Westmorland Constabulary, was hunting three men wanted for burglary at nearby Netherby Hall. Despite knowing they were armed, he challenged Anthony Rudge, John Martin and James Baker, who had already shot and injured Police Sergeant William Roche. Pc Byrnes was blasted in the head, thrown over a wall and left to die. He was located a short time later and carried to a local inn, where he died on the morning of 30 October 1885. The three suspects were caught, convicted of murder at the Court of Assize in Carlisle, and hanged in Carlisle jail on 8 February 1886.
On 3 July 1915, Reserve Police Constable Andrew Johnstone was on duty near Carlisle railway station when he reported to his sergeant that he was feeling ill. He was told to make his way home, but he never arrived and was found drowned in a dammed river in Denton Holme.
The force's first, and to date only, murder of an officer occurred on 10 February 1965. Constable George William Russell, aged 36, was fatally shot when, unarmed and knowing that colleagues had already been fired on, he confronted an armed suspect and called upon him to surrender at the railway station in Kendal. Russell was posthumously awarded the Queen's Police Medal for gallantry and a memorial plaque has been unveiled on a wall at Carlisle Cathedral.[19]
PC Keith Easterbrook (died 3 June 1993, aged 36) was fatally injured in a road traffic accident, while assisting in a vehicle pursuit, when a van he was overtaking pulled out and collided with his police motorcycle, on the A595 near Workington.
PC William "Bill" Barker was killed whilst on duty on 20 November 2009. At night during severe weather and flooding across the county, the officer was directing motorists to safety off Northside Bridge, Workington, which was in a dangerous condition, when the bridge was destroyed by the flood and he was swept away and killed, his body was found on a beach at Allonby that afternoon. Barker had completed 25 years police service and was a traffic officer attached to the Roads Policing Unit based at Workington; he had won a number of awards during his service.
Cumbria Constabulary PatchPC Nick Dumphreys was killed on duty on 26 January 2020, when his vehicle crashed whilst responding to an emergency call in the Carlisle area. PC Dumphreys was part of Cumbria Constabulary's roads policing unit. [20][21] In September 2022, the cause of the crash was determined to be an inherent problem with BMW engines – an oil leak at high speed spilling onto the wheels and causing him to lose control at 130 mph (210 km/h).[22]
In terms of operational policing, the force is divided into two commands – the Territorial Policing Command and the Crime Command, each headed by a Chief Superintendent.[23]
This command is further divided into three geographic Territorial Policing Areas (TPAs) to cover the county, an operational support section and a command and control section. Each TPA is led by a Superintendent and is further divided into districts and then teams for the purposes of neighbourhood policing. The major elements of the Territorial Policing Command are as follows:
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