Chief constable is the rank used by the chief police officer of every territorial police force in the United Kingdom except for the City of London Police and the Metropolitan Police, as well as the chief officers of the three 'special' national police forces, the British Transport Police, Ministry of Defence Police, and Civil Nuclear Constabulary. The title is also held by the chief officers of the principal Crown Dependency police forces, the Isle of Man Constabulary, States of Guernsey Police Service, and States of Jersey Police. The title is also held, ex officio, by the president of the Association of Chief Police Officers under the Police Reform Act 2002. It was also the title of the chief officer of the Royal Parks Constabulary until this agency was disbanded in 2004.
Throughout the United Kingdom and Crown Dependencies there are currently 57 chief constables. These consist of the chief officers of 37 English territorial forces outside London, 4 Welsh territorial forces, 8 Scottish territorial forces, the Police Service of Northern Ireland, 3 special national forces, 3 Crown Dependency constabularies, and the President of ACPO, Sir Hugh Orde.
The chief officers of some police departments in Canada also hold the title of chief constable. The chief officer of the Sovereign Base Areas Police also holds the title of chief constable.
Read more about Chief Constable: History of Title, Characteristics of Office, County Police Forces in The UK, Current Chief Constables (United Kingdom, Crown Dependencies, and British Territories), Metropolitan Police
Famous quotes containing the words chief and/or constable:
“‘Tis this desire of bending all things to our own purposes which turns them into confusion and is the chief source of every error in our lives.”
—Sarah Fielding (1710–1768)
“This ferry was as busy as a beaver dam, and all the world seemed anxious to get across the Merrimack River at this particular point, waiting to get set over,—children with their two cents done up in paper, jail-birds broke lose and constable with warrant, travelers from distant lands to distant lands, men and women to whom the Merrimack River was a bar.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)