Cambridgeshire

Police

History

Notes

Policing Peterborough

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The Combined Police Force

It was in the period of instability following the cessation of the War that the Police Act of 1946 was passed and with it coming into force so many of the smaller forces had their identities merged with those of the larger units.

During this time when the personel of the Force was continually changing as the reserve men left to take up their normal peace time occupations and the members of the regular force were returning from the armed forces, the two police authorities for the Liberty and the City of Peterborough decided that they would voluntarily amalgamate the two forces.

At this time, the City Force comprised 53 men and 4 policewomen and the Liberty Force consisted of 8 men.

The Peterborough Police (Amalgamation) Order of 1947 brought a combined police authority into being as from the 1st April of that year and all personnel of the two forces were transferred to the new Force which was to be known as the Peterborough Combined Police Force. Mr. F. G. Markin, the then Chief Constable of both forces, was to be the first Chief Constable of the new Force.

The authorised strength of the Combined Force was to be 68 men and 8 women, but later in the same year the Home Office approved an application of the new Police Authority for a revised establishment which was then fixed at a total of 85 men and 4 policewomen.

The new Police Authority consisted of representatives of the City and County Councils and also representatives of the Justices.

The new organisation made possible by the unification of the Forces considerably facilitated the work of the various departments and plans for the future development of the Force to keep it abreast of modern requirements were put into operation forthwith.

At the time of the amalgamation, the country was stiil of course very much in the throes of the aftermath of the Second World War, but immediate plans were put into being to bring the Liberty area of the Force under the control of 2 sergeants, each in charge of a section of 4 men. New houses with offices attached were built to replace the out of date and inconvenient places which were used as village police stations at that time. These old houses which were rented by the police from private owners, had no modern facilities and particularly no office accommodation. The policeman stationed there had to do all his official work and take his prisoners into his own private dwelling quarters.

Between 1950 and 1953, 9 new houses and offices to act as village police stations were erected and occupied at Castor, Wansford, Wittering (2), Barnack, Helpston, Peakirk and Eye (2). An office was added to the comparatively modern house owned by the police and used as a police station at Glinton.

The housing needs in the City were no less urgent. At the end of the War the police owned only one house which was the police station for the officer working the Werrington, Gunthorpe and Paston areas. With the return of men from the armed forces, many of whom had married in the meantime, and also the number of married recruits who needed houses, it was a very important matter that police accommodation should be made available at the earliest opportunity. A housing programme was decided upon and between 1947 and 1956, 29 new houses were built and cccupied by police officers in various parts of the town.

Altogether, since the War, the Police Authority in this area have provided their men with 38 new houses and the Authority now owns 40 houses, which, taking into account the size of the Force, can I think, be looked upon as a very satisfactory achievement.

Whilst these developments were in progress, recruiting continued to be a matter of some importance and although it was not as fast as would have been wished, yet in 1948 it was felt that the Force had then reached an actual strength which would justify the Police Authority giving further consideration to re-organisation and an additional establishment to cover the increasing police commitments of the fast growing industrial, business and residential areas of the City.

A scheme for re-organisation was accordingly approved and in 1949 the establishment of the Force was fixed at 106 men and 5 policewomen. With these numbers it was possibie to plan for a proper departmentalisation of the Force. A Traffic and Communications Department was set up to cope with the increasingiy important duties of traffic patrols and communications. At this time, wireless communication between forces and mobile sets for cars became available and an Information and Control Room was initiated on the Headquarters of the Force moving to the temporary accommodation at Westwood. The C.I.D. strength was increased to cope with the rise in crime.

It was at this time that the Force moved from Milton Street, and if the additional accommodation had not become available it would have been quite impossible to carry out these improvements in the very restricted space available at the Milton Street building.

From the early days after the War, the unification of the forces allowed a system of motor patrols to be inaugurated which ensured that the whole area of the Police Authority was covered by patrol cars, and with the availability of two-way wireless on the cars in 1949, the new system of patrols enabled the police to give immediate attention to any matter of urgency with the least possible delay.

The Communications of the Force were also much improved in the City. In addition to the wireless cars, a start was made as soon as national conditions allowed, for an extension of the police pillar system. There had been only 3 pillars previously. One at the Market Place, one at the Town Bridge and one at the junction of Dogsthorpe Road and Lincoln Road. Over the past years this number has been increased to 29 points from which the police or public can contact the Control Room at Headquarters direct and be assured of receiving immediate attention to any complaint or emergency.

Twelve of these points are police pillars, 9 are from pillar units fitted into police boxes and 8 are from pillar units fitted at police houses.

In addition to the Enquiry Office in the Old Guildhall on the Market Place, the Police Authority have now provided 8 complete and new Police Boxes where the men can partake of refreshment or to where they can take persons for the purpose of making reports or taking complaints or statements.

More recently, wireless has become available on motor cycles and now both the sergeants covering the Liberty area have motor cycles fitted with two-way wireless so that they can keep in touch with all police matters arising in the district and also be in a position to give their constables immediate assistance and advice and generally supervise their areas far more easily.

Two motor cycles are also on patrol throughout the area for 12 hours each day and they are available by means of the wireless for immediate deployment to any matter requiring police action and in addition they carry out valuable traffic patrol work.

I feel it is a matter upon which the Authority can look with satisfaction, when in retrospection they appreciate that since the War, all members of the Force requiring accommodation have been housed in modern houses; that all outstations have been provided with modern houses and office facilities away from the private quarters; that there is a proper fleet of vehicles, all equipped with wireless both out on patrol throughout the area and available at Headquarters for immediate use in attending to any emergency; that there is also a fully trained and equipped criminal investigation department and a photographic department together with an information and control room to ensure that all police circulations and messages are properly and fully distributed and that they receive all the necessary attention at the earliest possible moment.

There is also a police dog section with two handlers who are on call at any hour of the day or night and who, with their dogs, have carried out a good deal of useful work in connection both with crime and with searches for missing persons.

All this has been accomplished in the face of a very reai difficulty, namely the fact that the Force had no proper Headquarters. The Milton Street buildings, even with the Chief Constable's residence taken into use for police purposes, was quite inadequate, and the buildings occupied temporarily in 1949, whilst they have permitted some re-organisation in an attempt to keep abreast with modern requirements, have never been more than a make-shift arrangement with the very real disadvantage that many of the departments are operating from different sets of buildings and in different parts of the town.

Now at long last in the history cf the Peterborough Police there is to be a Headquarters building, properly designed for the purpose and from which all administrative and executive work can be controlled and co-ordinated.

This page was last modified: 11 October 2025, 11:28

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