Kent Police


Kent Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the and approximately 1.8 million inhabitants of Kent, a county in South East England.

History

On 14 January 1857, a 222-strong 'Kent County Constabulary' was formed under Chief Constable John Henry Hay Ruxton. The first headquarters was at Wrens Cross, Stone Street, Maidstone, and was rented for use by the police until 23 November 1860, when the force purchased it for £1,200. It was responsible for policing those parts of the county not already under the jurisdiction of local Borough police forces.
In 1860, the initial uniform of a frock coat and a high hat was replaced by a long uniform tunic and shako hat and constables were issued with a rattle and truncheon. In 1885, whistles were introduced. In 1897, the recognisable custodian helmet was introduced. In 1974, the familiar Cox Comb helmet replaced the Rose Top helmet with a new helmet plate.
On 1 April 1889, Kent County Constabulary absorbed the borough police forces of Deal, Hythe, Faversham, Sandwich, and Tenterden, five of the fourteen local police forces that then policed boroughs within the county of Kent. The remaining nine were absorbed on 1 April 1943, these being the borough forces of Dover, Folkestone, Gravesend, Maidstone, Margate, Ramsgate, and Tunbridge Wells, together with the Canterbury City Police, and the Rochester City Police. Ruxton retired on 14 August 1894 and died on 20 April 1897.
Kent County Constabulary purchased 20 bicycles in 1896, a number which rose to 129 by 1904. Telephones were given to village police constables in 1925 and by 1931, 29 motorcycles had been introduced, along with one police car. The constabulary employed horses until 1943, when the last was retired.
In 1965, the force had an establishment of 1,988 attested constables and an actual strength of 1,766, making it the third largest county force in Great Britain.
Kent County Constabulary was the last British force to keep the word "county" in its official title. It changed its name to Kent Police in 2002. The main argument for the change was that the large number of visitors coming through the Channel Tunnel and the ports would understand the word "Police" more readily than "Constabulary".
Kent Police was the first force in the United Kingdom to be led by a black chief constable, Michael Fuller, who held the role from 2004 to 2010.
After 1940, Kent Police HQ was situated at Sutton Road, Maidstone. but announced in 2020 that the HQ was no longer providing value for money and would be sold. The Chief Officer team has now relocated to North Kent Police Station in Northfleet Kent Police College is located on Coverdale Avenue, Maidstone. Kent Police museum is located in Faversham Police Station.
After years of personnel cuts announced in 2010 and starting in 2011, that saw officer numbers fall from a peak of almost 3,800 in 2010 to under 3,200 by 2016, it was announced in March 2018 that Kent Police would launch the largest recruitment campaign in its history aiming to recruit over 200 more officers over the next one to two years. This was made possible due to an increase in the tax funding the police receive from county residents. The campaign was successful with over 200 officers recruited in 2018 and 2019 bringing the force to over 3,400 officers.
It was further announced in January 2019 that the PCC Matthew Scott was proposing another tax increase in the 2019/20 period in the amount of money Kent Police receive from county residents in order to recruit a further 180 officers by 2020. This proposal was approved and increased the number of officers in the force to over 3,600 by 2020.
As part of the national campaign announced by the government in late 2019 to recruit 20,000 more police officers across all of the 43 police forces in England and Wales by early 2023 it was announced that Kent would receive government funding to recruit 147 officers in the first wave of 6,000 in 2020 with the other 14,000 expected in 2021 and 2022. Additional funding for 34 more officers was also underwritten by the police crime commissioner bringing the total number of extra funded officers in 2020 to 181. This increased the number of officers to over 3,800 by 2021. Under current plans the total number of officers is expected to increase to over 4,100 by March 2023 giving Kent Police its largest number of officers ever since the force was formed.

Chief constables

From 1857 to present:
  • Captain John Henry Hay Ruxton 1 April 1857 to August 1894
  • Major Henry Edwards 1894 to 1895
  • Lt.Col Henry Warde 1895 to 1921
  • Major Harry Ernest Chapman January 1921 to 1940
  • Captain J A Davison 1940 to 1942
  • Sir Percy Sillitoe 1943 to 1946
  • Major John Ferguson 1946 to 1958
  • Lt. Col Geoffrey White 1958 to 1962
  • Richard Dawnay Lemon April 1962 to 1974
  • Barry Pain 1974 to 1982
  • Frank Jordan 1982 to 1989
  • Paul Condon 1989 to 1993
  • Sir David Phillips 1993 to 2003
  • Robert Ayling 1 April 2003 to 5 January 2004
  • Michael Fuller 5 January 2004 to 16 February 2010
  • Ian Learmonth 5 July 2010 to 4 January 2014
  • Alan Pughsley 4 January 2014 to 3 October 2022
  • Tim Smith 6 December 2022 to present.

    Officers killed in the line of duty or while reporting for duty

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.
The following members of Kent Police are listed on the Roll of Honour:
  • PC Israel May - Died 24 August 1873, aged 37 - Beaten with his own truncheon while attempting to arrest a drunken man.
  • PC John Harryman - Died 29 May 1907, aged 29 - Killed by a railway engine while guarding the line for the royal train.
  • PC John Truphet Saywell - Died 1 October 1910, aged 35 - Died during an operation on an injury inflicted during a disturbance.
  • DS George Henry Apps - Died 7 June 1916, aged 34 - Died of injuries received on duty in 1915 when knocked down by a car.
  • PC Charles William Walker - Died 21 July 1924, aged 51 - Died of injuries received on duty when he was knocked down by a cyclist.
  • PC Edwin James Longhurst - Died 8 February 1928, aged 44 - Fatally injured cycling on duty when knocked down by a bus in Canterbury.
  • PC Ernest F. Bradley - Died 18 August 1928, aged 27 - Fatally injured on motorcycle patrol in a collision with another motorcycle.
  • PC Albert Cox - Died 20 December 1930, aged 40 - Died of injuries sustained in January 1930 in a cycling accident on duty.
  • RPC Charles William Haines - Died 20 September 1940, aged 65 - Fatally injured when struck by a car cycling back to his station in an air raid.
  • PC Thomas James Farrell - Died 1 November 1940, aged 38 -Killed during an enemy air raid when bomb splinters pierced his helmet.
  • PWRC Herbert James Chittenden - Died 1 January 1942, aged 41 - Killed when his police motorcycle struck the kerb and overturned.
  • PC Stephen George James Huggins - Died 31 October 1942, aged 37 - Fatally injured by a bullet from an enemy aircraft during an air raid.
  • PWRC Reginald Walter Dowling - Died 8 April 1943, aged 49 - Died of injuries received in June 1942 during an air raid at Canterbury.
  • Killed in enemy air raids off duty or duty status unknown between 1940 & 1945 S/Insp George Moore, SC John Olive, PWRC Henry Kettle, PC Ronald Parker, S/Sgt Reginald John Rogers, SC Arthur Edward Potten, SC Ernest Albert Farrow, SC Frederick Walter Heine, SC Richard Daniel Jay Wills, PC Cecil George Constable, PMS Edward John Toomey, SC William George Warner, S/Sgt William Albert Bransby, SC George Ernest Russell, PC Sydney Russell, SC Harry Thomas R. Pankhurst, PWRC Frederick Chapman, Sgt William George Braddick, SC Frederick James Collard, PWRC Albert Robert Gibling, SC Robert Wheeler, Sgt William George Dickinson, SC Frederick Johnson
  • PC Frank Skewis - Died 8 January 1949, aged 49 - Killed when accidentally struck by a car while rounding up stray horses.
  • PC Alan George Baxter - Died 5 June 1951, aged 33 - Fatally wounded when shot by a gunman being sought by police.
  • PC Hubert Stanley Pay - Died 4 November 1951, aged 25 -Fatally injured travelling to work when his motorcycle hit a lorry.
  • T/Sgt Gerald Thomas P. Rooney - Died 14 March 1956, aged 24 - Shot dead by terrorists, on duty with the British Police Unit in Cyprus.
  • PC Peter W. Child - Died 27 January 1964, aged 27 - Killed on a driving course when the police car he was in crashed.
  • PC Robert Archibald Beattie - Died 5 July 1965, aged 41 - and
  • PC Robert Alfred John Knight - Died 5 July 1965, aged 29 - Killed when their patrol car was hit head-on by a car on the motorway.
  • PC George Craig - Died 21 May 1967, aged 36 - Killed on motorcycle patrol when he ran into an unlit lorry at night.
  • PC Phillip Alan Long - Died 28 June 1968, aged 22 - Fatally injured in a road accident while on motorcycle patrol.
  • DC Roger Gardiner - Died 26 May 1972, aged 36 - Killed while driving a police vehicle when he lost control and hit a tree.
  • PC Malcolm John Boakes - Died 21 October 1973, aged 31 - Killed while travelling to duty when a load fell off a lorry onto their car.
  • PC John Francis Ryan - Died 21 October 1973, aged 33 - Killed while travelling to duty when a load fell off a lorry onto their car.
  • DS Charles Edward Brisley - Died 20 April 1978, aged 47 - Fatally injured when struck by a lorry trailer on duty in Folkestone harbour.
  • Sgt George Frederick Matthew - Died 16 June 1983, aged 42 - Killed on motorcycle patrol when his machine collided with a lorry.
  • PC Duncan Watts Clift - Died 24 March 1991, aged 27 - Run down and fatally injured trying to stop a stolen car while off duty.
  • PC Alexander Gordon Doe - Died 18 May 1993, aged 44 - Killed on an advanced motorcycle course when his machine crashed.
  • PC Jonathan Bruce Odell - Died 19 December 2000, age 30 - Run down and killed by a speeding vehicle he was attempting to stop.
  • PC Katie Louise Mitchell - Died 3 October 2007, age 39 - Killed in a motorcycle accident while travelling to duty at Tonbridge.
  • PC Phillip Edward Pratt - Died 14 June 2009, aged 26 - Killed when struck by a vehicle while protecting the scene of an accident.
  • DS Terry Easterby - Died 25 February 2011, aged 44 - Died in a motorcycle collision while travelling to report for duty at Medway.