User:Lozleader/Police Act 1964

The Royal Commission on the Police published its report on May 31 1962. This recommended an urgent review on number and size of police areas.
 * No single national force be formed, but central government to exercise more powers over local forces
 * Retention of police forces of between 200 and 350 officers "justiiable only by special circumstances such as the distribution of the poulation and the geography of the area"
 * Optimum size was more than 500, with population of 250,000
 * There was "a case" for single police forces for major conurbations
 * Of 158 police forces in Great Britain, 97 had an establishment of less than 350
 * Large reduction in number of forces in Scotland needed, to between 20 and 33

Act
The Act received the royal assent June 10, 1964. Home secretary had the power to seek amalgamations from July 1.

The authorities had less powers than their predecessors, especially the boroughs, with the Home Secretary taking on more supervision than before. The authority were required to maintain an efficient police force, but had no operational role.
 * England and Wales, outside London, to consist of "Police Areas". These to be administrative counties, county boroughs or "combined police areas", consisting of combinations of the counties and county boroughs.
 * Established new "Police Authorities": watch committees (in boroughs), police committees (in counties - replacing joint standing committees) or combined police authorities.
 * Authorities to consist of two-thirds elected members and one-third magistrates. Previously all members of watch committees had been councillors or aldermen, while sjcs were fifty per cent county councillors and aldermen, fifty percent magistrates.
 * Chief constables given the power to appoint, direct and control special constables.
 * The chief constable could appoint police cadets with the permission of the authority.
 * Chief constable required to make an annual report to the authority.
 * Authority coulsd also request other reports on policing in the police area.
 * Authority could choose chief constables, deputy and assistant chief constables from a Home Office shortlist. They coulsd also require the Chief Constable to retire, subject to the Home Secretary's approval.
 * The Home Secretary could order a complaint against a police force to be investigated by officers of another force.

First amalgamations
On July 10, 1964, Henry Brooke, the Home Secretary announced he would be using his powers under the Act to amalgamate the county borough forces of Luton and Northampton with the county forces of Bedfordshire and Northamponshire respectively.

Luton's force had only been formed on April 1, when it became a county borough, but Mr Brooke said he did not regard the continuance of its existence as in the best interests of policing efficency.

Following a change in government at the general election, Frank Soskice became Home Secretary. In 1965 he announced that Exeter City's force would be merged with that of Devon.

The amalgamations were opposed by the boroughs: Luton's campaign went as far as serving a High Court writ on the Home Secretary in an attempt to stop the merger.

Atempts to prevent the amalgamtion schemes were unsuccesful and on April 1 1966 the following combined forces were formed:
 * Bedfordshire and Luton Constabulary
 * Northampton and County Constabulary
 * West Midlands Constabulary (covering the county boroughs of Dudley, Walsall, Warley, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton, which were constituted or enlarged from that date.)

1966 amalgamation scheme
May 16, 1966, the new Home Secretary, Roy Jenkins announced that the number of police forces in England and Wales was to be reduced from 117 to 49. Where the local authorities concerned did not agree a voluntary scheme he would make a compulsory amalgamation.

Proposed amalgamated forces
&dagger; combined force
 * 1) Lancashire, Barrow-in-Furness, Blackburn, Blackpool, Bolton, Burnley, Oldham, Rochdale, St Helens, Southport, Warrington, Wigan
 * 2) Manchester, Salford, Stockport
 * 3) Bootle, Liverpool
 * 4) Cheshire, Wallasey, Birkenhead
 * 5) Cumberland, Westmorland, Carlisle
 * 6) Durham, Sunderland
 * 7) Teesside (new county borough), Yorkshire North Riding
 * 8) Sheffield, Rotherham
 * 9) Yorkshire West Riding, Barnsley, Bradford, Dewsbury, Doncaster, Halifax, Huddersfield, Wakefield
 * 10) Hull, Yorkshire East Riding, York
 * 11) Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Worcester
 * 12) Leicestershire & Rutland&dagger;, Leicester
 * 13) Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent
 * 14) Derbyshire, Derby
 * 15) Warwickshire, Coventry
 * 16) Lincolnshire&dagger;, Lincoln, Grimsby
 * 17) Nottinghamshire, Nottingham
 * 18) Norfolk, Norwich, Great Yarmouth
 * 19) East Suffolk, West Suffolk, Ipswich
 * 20) East Sussex, West Sussex, Brighton, Eastbourne, Hastings
 * 21) Essex, Southend
 * 22) Berkshire, Reading, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Oxford
 * 23) Somerset, Bath (voluntary scheme agreed)
 * 24) Bournemouth, Dorset
 * 25) Portsmouth, Southampton, Hampshire & Isle of Wight&dagger;
 * 26) Cornwall, Devon & Exeter&dagger;, Plymouth
 * 27) Denbighshire, Flintshire, Gwynedd&dagger;
 * 28) Glamorgan, Merthyr Tydfil, Cardiff, Swansea
 * 29) Pembrokeshire, Cardiganshire & Carmarthenshire&dagger;, Mid Wales&dagger;
 * 30) Monmouthshire, Newport
 * It was also envisaged that the forces of Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne, South Shields and Tynemouth would be combined into a single Tyneside force if the recommendations of the Local Government Commission for England (1958 - 1967) were carried into effect.

On October 19, 1966 mr Jenkins issued an order for the compulsory amalgamtion of the five forces of Berkshire, Reading, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Oxford.

Amalgamations carried out
&Dagger; New county borough