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Gwent Police

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This article is about the territorial police force. For the minigame, see The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. For the digital collectible card game, see Gwent: The Witcher Card Game.

Gwent Police
Heddlu Gwent
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Agency overview
Formed1967
Preceding agencies
Annual budget£119,539,273
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdictionGwent, Wales, Wales
Gwent Police area within Wales
Size1,554 km²
Population556,600
General nature
Operational structure
HeadquartersCroesyceiliog
Sworn members1,204 (including 138 Special Constables) [1]
Police and Crime Commissioner responsible
Agency executive
Divisions
List
  • East - Newport & Monmouthshire West- Blaenau Gwent & Caerphilly & Torfaen
Facilities
Stations22
Website
www.gwent.police.uk

Gwent Police (Welsh: Heddlu Gwent) is a territorial police force in Wales, responsible for policing the local authority areas of Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Monmouthshire, Newport and Torfaen.

History

Gwent Police 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. In 1996, the force's area was expanded to cover the former Rhymney Valley district area as a consequence of it becoming part of the Caerphilly county borough, in order to incorporate the entirety of the county borough in the police area.

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.[2] The film earned honours in the Advertising Age's weekly Creativity Top 5 video.[3] and became an overnight worldwide internet hit after being shown on the USA The Today Show television show.[4]

At the start of 2010 the government announced cut-backs to all UK police forces. Currently Gwent Police has 1,204 officers and 649 civilian staff and 217 Police community support officers. A number of stations have closed, including those at Newbridge and Abertillery.

From April 2011 the Chief Constable was Carmel Napier. Jeff Farrar was confirmed as Chief Constable in November 2013 after carrying out the role in a temporary capacity from June 2013. Farrar retired in July 2017 and replaced by his deputy, now chief constable Julian Williams, with DCC Pam Kelly joining from Dyfed Powys Police

Gwent Police along with all other Welsh police forces were given specific funding from the Welsh Government for the purpose of employing Police community support officers to get greater communication to communities and sparsely located towns like Chepstow. Gwent Police currently employs 219 Police community support officers.

In 2016 Ian Johnston the Gwent Police and Crime Commissioner stated that Gwent Police will be having a recruitment drive with the potential of taking on 100 new officers. Since then Gwent police has trained approximately 200 new officers with at least another 100 scheduled for 2018.

Jeffrey Cuthbert was elected as the new Gwent Police and crime commissioner in the England and Wales police and crime commissioner elections, 2016. Johnston did not run for re-election.

Newport has recently[when?] undertaken large scale drug enforcement operations that has seen a significant number of persons convicted of drug possession and supply.

Collaborations

Gwent Police collaborate with a number of other neighbouring forces and organisations:

Policing divisions

Gwent Police have two policing areas which are:

These divisions are run independently, controlled by superintendent ranks, with more senior officers having full overview of the whole force. The force has its headquarters at Croesyceiliog in Cwmbran.

Both divisions have independent specialist departments such as their area support units (ASU) which combine traffic officers and support group officers, and CID and public protection teams. However they still share some departments such as dog section, force planning and learning and development

Chief Constables

  • 1967–1981 : William Farley [5]
  • 1981–1997 : John Over[6]
  • 1997–1999 : Francis J. Wilkinson
  • 1999–? : Keith Turner
  • 2004–2008 : Michael Tonge
  • 2008–2010 : Mick Giannasi [7]
  • 2011–2013 : Carmel Napier
  • 2013–2017 : Jeff Farrar [8]
  • 2017– : Julian Williams [9]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Tables for 'Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2015". HM Government. Office for National Statistics. 31 March 2013. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
  2. ^ "Cow - the film that will stop you texting and driving". Archived from the original (web) on 22 July 2010. Retrieved 25 August 2008. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ "Creativity Top 5: 24 August 2009" (web). Retrieved 25 August 2008.
  4. ^ WalesOnline (25 August 2009). "Graphic film about dangers of texting is internet hit".
  5. ^ "Ex-police chief dies in blaze". BBC News. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  6. ^ Kirby, Terry (26 August 1993). "Police 'in peril' from Sheehy report". The Independent. London. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
  7. ^ "Gwent Police chief constable Mick Giannasi to retire". BBC News. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  8. ^ "Gwent Police Chief Constable Jeff Farrar to retire". BBC News. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  9. ^ "Chief Constable Julian Williams". Gwent Police. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
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