Devon and Cornwall Police


Devon and Cornwall Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the ceremonial counties of Devon and Cornwall in South West England. The force serves approximately 1.8 million people over an area of.

History

The force was formed on 1 April 1967, by the amalgamation of the Devon and Exeter Police, Cornwall County Constabulary and Plymouth City Police. These three constabularies were in turn amalgamations of 23 city and borough police forces that were absorbed between 1856 and 1947.
Between 1856 and 1947, police in Devon and Cornwall used a number of different names. They were gradually absorbed into two of the existing forces called Devon and Exeter Constabulary and Cornwall County Constabulary, with Plymouth City Police remaining separate. In 1967 these three remaining forces were amalgamated into one called Devon and Cornwall Constabulary or Devon and Cornwall Police.
The archives and objects that relate to Devon and Cornwall Police and its antecedent forces are now held by the Museum of Policing in Devon and Cornwall.
In July 2023, the police and crime commissioner suspended Chief Constable Will Kerr over sexual allegations. While that was being investigated, the PCC appointed Acting Chief Constable Jim Colwell. In November 2024, the PCC suspended the acting chief constable over allegations relating to messages sent on a police-provided mobile phone, and in December appointed the retired chief constable of Dorset Police, James Vaughan, as interim chief constable.

Chief constables

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.
Since 1814, the following officers of Devon and Cornwall Constabulary and its predecessors were killed while attempting to prevent or stop a crime in progress:
  • Town Sergeant Joseph Burnett, 1814
  • PC William Bennett, 1875
  • PC Walter Creech, 1883
  • PC John Tremlett Potter, 1938
  • PC Dennis Arthur Smith, 1973
  • PC Christopher Francis Wilson, 1977
  • PC Joseph James Childs and PC Martin Ross Reid, 1978

    Suspension of Chief Constable Will Kerr

, who joined the force in December 2022, was reported on 26 July 2023 as being suspended by Police and Crime Commissioner Alison Hernandez. A statement issued by Hernandez's office said: "Pursuant to section 38 of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011, Alison Hernandez, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon and Cornwall, has suspended the Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police, Will Kerr OBE KPM, following allegations of misconduct.

Oversight

Since 5 May 2016, the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner is Alison Hernandez, who represents the Conservative Party.
The police and crime commissioner is scrutinised by the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Panel, made up of elected councillors from the local authorities in the police area. Before November 2012, the force was governed by the Devon and Cornwall Police Authority.

Organisation

, the force has 3,593 individual police officers, 549 special constables, 320 police community support officers, and 2,236 staff. Training for new recruits is held at the Headquarters in Middlemoor. For constables, it consists of eight months training and a two-year probationary period. For special constables it consists of three months of online learning and practical weekends training and a two-year probationary period or less, dependent on the number of tours of duty. For PCSOs, it consists of 18 weeks training and a 15-week probationary period. Recruits receive their warrant card and uniform in the first two months of training.
The force is divided into four Basic Command Units, each commanded by a Chief Superintendent. Geographically larger BCUs are further split into Local Policing Areas, under a Superintendent, which are further sub-divided into Sectors, each under an Inspector. The Plymouth and South Devon BCUs only contain one LPA, being divided directly into sectors. Most sectors contain a police station, while in Plymouth there are numerous neighbourhood bases or police stations.
Each BCU will have several specialist teams, including Patrol, Neighbourhood Policing Teams, a Criminal Investigation Department and various pro-active policing units to target persistent criminals and focus on specific operations.
The four BCUs are:
  • Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly BCU
  • *East Cornwall geographic LPA
  • *West Cornwall geographic LPA
  • South Devon BCU
  • Devon BCU
  • *Exeter East and Mid geographic LPA
  • *North and West Devon geographic LPA
  • Plymouth BCU
  • *Plymouth geographic area

    Force contact centre

The force contact centre is located at two sites: police HQ in Middlemoor, Exeter and Crownhill police station in Plymouth, both operating 24/7. Calls from all parts of the force are assigned to the next available agent, whichever site they are working from. Calls are answered by trained civilian staff, with police officers in some supporting and supervisory roles. Both 999/112 and non-emergency calls are answered by multiskilled staff, with other duties including the Force Switchboard, found property recording, crime recording, requests from other police forces, emails from the public, and the force website. Radio dispatch officers are located in the control rooms at both sites and deploy police officers following calls for service from the contact centre. The two control rooms use the national Airwave emergency service secure radio system, which is due to be replaced in the early 2020s.

Operations department

The operations department provides uniformed operational support to the force, and is responsible for traffic policing and tactical support.

Roads policing Team

Devon and Cornwall Police patrol a section of the M5, as well as many 'A' roads. The team is split up into 5 stations across the force. These are Exeter, Plymouth, Barnstaple, Bodmin and Camborne. They deploy in marked and unmarked high performance vehicles. The unit also has officers that patrol on marked and unmarked motorcycles.
Roads Policing officers conduct proactive enforcement on the roads as well as investigating serious and fatal road traffic collisions.
Under the Roads Policing Team is the No Excuse Team. This is a proactive roads policing team that deploy predominantly in unmarked high performance vehicles to enforce against Fatal 5 offences.

Force Support Group

The Force Support Group, previously called the Tactical Aid Group, is predominantly responsible for public order, marine operations, searches and dealing with potentially violent offenders.
The FSG's Marine Support Unit, also known as FSG D Section, is responsible for underwater search and marine operations.

Dog section

The force has police dogs, which are trained in a variety of roles including drugs dogs, explosives dogs and firearms support dogs.
The unit, which is headed up by an inspector, is based at headquarters in Middlemoor, in Exeter.

Armed response

Also under Devon and Cornwall's Operations Department is the Firearms Unit. All officers are trained as Armed Response Vehicle Officers, with the additional Tactical Firearms Team who are SFO's. The ARVs are tasked with responding to incidents where firearms and other weapons are involved. They are routinely armed.

Air Operations Unit

Air support is provided by the National Police Air Service, which operates a dedicated police helicopter out of Exeter Airport.
The now-closed Air Operations Unit previous flew a MBB/Kawasaki BK 117. It took delivery of a Eurocopter EC145 in April 2010, with its call sign being OSCAR 99. The unit was able scramble in two minutes and could reach most areas of the force within 15 minutes.

Force crime department

The force crime department contains the central units of the force's Criminal Investigation Department, which also has detectives attached to the larger police stations. It is headed by the force crime manager, a detective chief superintendent. It also comprises the major crime branch, covert operations unit, intelligence unit, performance and co-ordination unit, scientific and technical services unit.

Other departments

  • The Contingency Planning Unit formulates long-term plans to deal with major incidents, including security for VIP visits, counterterrorist operations and reaction to terrorist attacks.
  • The Force Planning and Consultation Unit formulates policy and plans and monitors public opinion on policing matters.
  • The Professional Standards Department deals with force discipline and complaints against officers.

    Uniforms and equipment

Headgear

In 2020, the force moved to a gender neutral position on headwear, permitting any officer to wear a male or female hat either the custodian helmet, or a peaked cap with a chequered Sillitoe tartan band, or a bowler hat, also with Sillitoe tartan, under all circumstances.
Traffic police headgear is the same as that for any other vehicle patrol but has a white rather than a black top, originally designed to aid visibility before the advent of fluorescent fabrics.
PCSOs wear a peaked cap or bowler hat, but with a blue band.
Tri Service Safety Officers wear a peaked cap or bowler, with a grey band.