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25-612: The constabulary was founded in 1841, under the County Police Act , five years after the Hertford Borough Police and St Albans Borough Police had been formed. In 1889, the Hertford Borough Police force was merged into Hertfordshire. The first constables were working-class men and were paid at the level of an agricultural labourer. In Victorian times, officers were entitled to only one rest day in every four to six weeks and were entitled to only one week's unpaid annual leave

50-422: A year. A ten-hour working day was the norm and no meal breaks were allowed. There were strict constraints on an officer's private life too. For example, officers reportedly could not leave their homes without permission, and could only go out with their wives as long as they were not absent for more than two hours and someone was at home to take messages. St Albans Constabulary remained independent until 1947, but

75-618: Is under way with call handling, control and dispatch, human resources and some "back-office" functions being examined for merging. For the foreseeable future, the Constabulary looks likely to remain an independent force. Ultimately, the decision for any full merger of the three forces will be in the hands of the Police and Crime Commissioners , and thereby in turn, the public themselves. The Police Roll of Honour Trust and Police Memorial Trust list and commemorate all British police officers killed in

100-901: The Rural Police Act or the Rural Constabularies Act ) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . It was one of the Police Acts 1839 to 1893 . The Act enabled Justices of the Peace in England and Wales to establish police forces in their counties. The Act was not compulsory, and constabularies were only established in 25 out of 55 counties by 1856, when the County and Borough Police Act 1856 made their provision mandatory. The legislation

125-514: The list of acts of the Parliament of Northern Ireland . The number shown after each act's title is its chapter number. Acts passed before 1963 are cited using this number, preceded by the year(s) of the reign during which the relevant parliamentary session was held; thus the Union with Ireland Act 1800 is cited as "39 & 40 Geo. 3 c. 67", meaning the 67th act passed during the session that started in

150-576: The list of acts of the Parliament of Scotland . For acts passed from 1707 to 1800, see the list of acts of the Parliament of Great Britain . See also the list of acts of the Parliament of Ireland . For acts of the devolved parliaments and assemblies in the United Kingdom, see the list of acts of the Scottish Parliament , the list of acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly , and the list of acts and measures of Senedd Cymru ; see also

175-472: The 39th year of the reign of George III and which finished in the 40th year of that reign. Note that the modern convention is to use Arabic numerals in citations (thus "41 Geo. 3" rather than "41 Geo. III"). Acts of the last session of the Parliament of Great Britain and the first session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom are both cited as "41 Geo. 3". Acts passed from 1963 onwards are simply cited by calendar year and chapter number. All modern acts have

200-626: The central government. However, with the economic recession beginning in 2008 the force began working on collaboration with neighbouring forces, first joining with Bedfordshire Police and then Cambridgeshire Constabulary in a strategic alliance. The three forces formed joint units in counter terrorism, major crime, dogs, firearms, SOCO , roads policing, operation planning, civil contingencies, ICT and professional standards. Working collaboratively in this way protected local policing by local officers, but enabled specialist units to work across, and be paid for by, all three forces. Further collaborative work

225-402: The county by which they were surrounded, or with which they had the longest common boundary. All franchises or liberties , other than reformed boroughs were also to come under the county police. A "county" for the purposes of the act was defined as being "any County, Riding or Division having a separate Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace or in which separate County Rates are made". The act

250-466: The county police. In each county where the act was adopted a chief constable was to be appointed. Where a county was divided into two parliamentary divisions by the Reform Act 1832 , a chief constable could be appointed to each division. It was also permitted for one chief constable to be appointed to two or more neighbouring counties. For the purposes of the act all county exclaves were to be part of

275-399: The following counties: 2 %26 3 Vict. This is a complete list of acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the year 1839 . Note that the first parliament of the United Kingdom was held in 1801; parliaments between 1707 and 1800 were either parliaments of Great Britain or of Ireland ). For acts passed up until 1707, see the list of acts of the Parliament of England and

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300-669: The line of duty. Since its establishment in 1984, the Police Memorial Trust has erected 50 memorials nationally to some of those officers. Since 1950, the following officers of Hertfordshire Constabulary are listed by the Trust as having been killed in the line of duty: Local policing is overseen by the Local Policing Command, headed by a chief superintendent . The county is sub-divided into ten divisions, also known as Community Safety Partnerships (CSP), which broadly correspond to

325-629: The local Borough and Council areas. The ten CSPs, each headed by a chief inspector are: Watford , Three Rivers , Dacorum , Welwyn and Hatfield , St Albans , Hertsmere , East Herts , Broxbourne , Stevenage and North Herts . Each CSP has: Local policing is supplemented by an array of specialist units, some of which are collaborated with Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire . These include: Notable major incidents and investigations in which Hertfordshire Constabulary have directed or been involved include: County Police Act The County Police Act 1839 ( 2 & 3 Vict. c. 93) (also known as

350-526: The magistrates of the various counties asking them to support the resolution passed in Shropshire to establish a body of constables paid for out of the county rate and under the control of the magistrates. The commission's report, issued in 1839, followed the lines favoured by Russell. It recommended that "a properly trained and equipped preventative police force" based on the pattern of the existing Metropolitan Police , should be established in all counties where

375-407: The magistrates were in favour. Each force should be funded mostly by local rates, with 25% of the cost met by central government. The force would be under the supervision of the county magistrates, who would have the power to employ or remove officers, subject to statutory regulations. The act allowed justices of the peace of any county , in general or quarter sessions , to appoint constables "for

400-424: The mode of payment provided for carrying into effect the regulations of the act, by levying it out of the county rates; a difficulty as to that provision had arisen in various counties, in which certain districts only had adopted the act. In counties, also, in which there were isolated portions of other counties, it was difficult to say how those isolated portions were to be dealt with, because they were incorporated in

425-472: The police districts of another county than that in which they were rated for the payment..." The bill was enacted as the County Police Act 1840 ( 3 & 4 Vict. c. 88). It provided inter alia for the voluntary merging of borough police forces with county constabularies and the levying of a new "police rate". The main provisions of the Act were: By 1851 constabularies had been formed to cover all or part of

450-499: The power to choose a chief constable, but his appointment was also subject to the approval of the Home Secretary. In some cases magistrates chose to form a force in only part of a county. The first county to form a constabulary under the 1839 Act was Wiltshire . On 13 November the court of quarter sessions agreed to adopt the act, and on 28 November appointed Commander Samuel Meredith, Royal Navy as chief constable. The appointment

475-478: The preservation of the peace and protection of the inhabitants" where they felt the existing system of parish constables was insufficient. The constables were to be appointed on a ratio of not more than one officer per one thousand of population. Boroughs operating under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 had the power to form their own police force and were to be excluded from the jurisdiction of

500-513: Was appointed against a background of unrest and violence in some areas of the country, with protests against the New Poor Law and agitation by Chartists for social and political reform. Chadwick was strongly in favour of the creation of a single centralised force, but this was opposed by not only the two other commissioners but also by the Home Secretary , Lord John Russell . Russell wrote to

525-554: Was approved on 5 December, and Wiltshire's example was quickly followed by Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Durham. Within a few months of the first county constabularies being formed, a number of problems with the legislation became apparent. Accordingly, the Hon. Fox Maule introduced a bill to the House of Commons in February 1840. Maule outlined the problems: "...difficulties had arisen from

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550-540: Was based on the recommendations of a royal commission appointed in 1836 to "inquire into the best means of establishing an efficient constabulary force in the counties of England and Wales". The three members of the commission, or "Constabulary Commissioners" as they were informally called were Colonel Charles Rowan , Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police , Edwin Chadwick and Charles Shaw Lefevre . The commission

575-500: Was not to extend to the Metropolitan Police District . In order to establish a force in a county, it was necessary for three or more magistrates to make a requisition to the chairman of the quarter sessions to bring the matter to a vote. If the sessions chose to adopt the act they were obliged to prepare a report on the area and population of the county and the existing method of policing. The report would set out how it

600-409: Was proposed to apply the legislation to the county, detailing the number of constables, the divisions of the county and the salaries to be paid and making any additional rules and regulations deemed necessary. The report was then submitted for approval to the Home Secretary who could modify parts of the scheme but did not have the power to alter the number of constables or their salaries. The sessions had

625-717: Was then absorbed into the Hertfordshire Constabulary. Finally, in 2000 that the current force boundaries came into place with the addition of Hertsmere and Broxbourne , transferred from the Metropolitan Police . In 2006, proposals were made by Charles Clarke , the then Home Secretary , that would see the force merge with neighbour forces Bedfordshire Police and Essex Police to form a new strategic police force. But in July 2006, Prime Minister Tony Blair signalled that police force mergers would not be forced through by

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