Gwent Police

Gwent Police is a territorial police force in Wales, responsible for policing the local authority areas of Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Monmouthshire, Newport and Torfaen.
The force was formed in 1967 by the amalgamation of Monmouthshire Constabulary and Newport Borough Police. In 1974 its area was realigned to cover the new administrative county of Gwent, and in 1996, it was expanded again to cover the former Rhymney Valley district area that had become part of the Caerphilly county borough.
, the force has 1,308 police officers, 70 special constables, 115 police community support officers, 40 police support volunteers, and 647 staff.

Organisation

Governance

Like most police forces in England and Wales, Gwent Police is overseen by the elected Gwent Police and Crime Commissioner, who replaced the former police authority of councillors, magistrates and lay members in 2012. The PCC is currently Jane Mudd.

Structure

Gwent Police has two local policing areas:

East – Newport and Monmouthshire
West – Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen

These divisions are run practically independently, controlled by a chief superintendent. Both contain three departments, each under a chief inspector; CID, Neighbourhood Operations and Neighbourhood Support. However, there are still some departments that cover the whole force, including the dog section, rural crime team, and training functions.
The force has its headquarters at Llantarnam in Cwmbran.

Collaborations

Gwent Police has participated in collaborations with other agencies to improve service and reduce costs at a time of government cuts. Examples of collaborations include:

Joint Response Unit – where a special constable works alongside a paramedic or technician. Funded by the Welsh Ambulance Service and staffed by Gwent Police Special Constabulary.
Joint Firearms Unit
Tarian – regional organised crime unit.
Wales Extremism and Counter Terrorism Unit
South Wales Joint Scientific Investigation Unit – processes all forensic submissions
Air support is provided by the National Police Air Service – mainly using NPAS47, a Eurocopter EC135 Police Helicopter based at MOD St Athan, supported by NPAS43 from Almondsbury near Bristol.
Missing Children's Unit
Youth Offending Service.
Joint Legal Services
Joint Printing Unit
Record Management
Police stations and offices

Gwent Police operate both fully-fledged police stations, and several offices and shops that serve as points of contact with the public. For example, the police station at Abertillery closed due to budget cuts, but the police still maintain a presence at the local fire station. In Abergavenny, neighbourhood officers are available at a "one stop shop" shared with Monmouthshire County Council. On the other hand, several buildings are owned for operational or administrative purposes that are not open to the public, including the force headquarters in Cwmbran. Newport Central police station is the only front desk service that is available 24 hours a day, a custody suite is based at the station. Several front offices and stations have been partially or fully closed following a review of the function and role of front desks in police stations.

Chief constables

19671981: William Farley
19811994: John Over
19941996: Sir Anthony Burden
19971999: Francis J. Wilkinson
1999?: Keith Turner
20042008: Michael Tonge
20082010: Mick Giannasi
20112013: Carmel Napier
20132017: Jeff Farrar
2017June 2019: Julian Williams
June 2019present: Pam Kelly
Media engagement

In 2009, Gwent Police worked with film maker Peter Watkins-Hughes to create the short film Cow as part of a campaign to stop texting while driving. The film earned honours in the Advertising Age's weekly Creativity Top 5 video and became an overnight worldwide internet hit after being shown on the USA The Today Show television show.
In 2019, a mugshot of a wanted drug dealer that Gwent Police had posted to Facebook received than 89,000 comments, many of which mocked his hairstyle. Gwent Police warned that abusive comments could be against the law.