Brighton Parks Police was a park police force maintained by Brighton Borough Council for the borough of

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

History

The first suggestion of a park police forces was by the local chief constable in 1961. He stated that a dedicated park police force would allow the public to use the parks "...freely and safely, without fear of molestation and without there being undue rowdyism or improper conduct." In 1962, the uniformed park keepers were reorganised into a single section under a Park Keeper Supervisor, and in 1963 were renamed "Park Police". A number of park keepers had already been appointed as

constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...

s, by virtue of the Brighton Corporation Act 1931,21 & 22 Geo. 5 c.cix. but following the formation of the unified service all additional staff were also attested. In 1963, the force consisted of one Supervisor, one Assistant Supervisor and 14 Park Constables. Two constables were made redundant in 1981, and in 1984 the Parks Police underwent review. The 1984 report found that 10 constables, organised in eight sections of one or two men, were responsible for 2,500 acres of open space, and the constables based at East Brighton and Hollingbury Park were responsible for the parks in the outlying areas of the borough. The two other constables provided relief cover for sickness and rest days. The Assistant Supervisor also provided some early morning cover and out-of-hours response. The force operated three vans, and had access to a

Land Rover Land Rover is a British brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR currently builds Land Rovers ...

if required. Constables worked a 37-hour, 5-day week, year-round from dawn till dusk, and took rest days during the week so that as many as possible were available at weekends, when the parks were busiest. Some personal radios were used, but no formal training was provided, though the majority of constables came from police or security backgrounds. The 1931 Brighton Corporation Act expired in 1986. The recommendation of the 1984 review was that section 77 of the Public Health Amendment Act 1907 should be used to attest staff as constables, though the powers it would have provided are unclear. However, cost-cutting in the 1990s caused the Parks Police to be disbanded. Some officers took early retirement, and others transferred to become "Urban Rangers".

Uniform

Officers wore a uniform in the style of the contemporary police uniform, consisting of a dark blue

tunic A tunic is a garment for the body, usually simple in style, reaching from the shoulders to a length somewhere between the hips and the knees. The name derives from the Latin ''tunica'', the basic garment worn by both men and women in Ancient Rome ...

with chrome buttons (in later years a dark blue

jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...

was introduced), blue shirt, black tie and

peaked cap The peaked cap, peaked hat, service cap, barracks cover or combination cap is a form of headgear worn by the armed forces of many nations, as well as many uniformed civilian organisations such as law enforcement agencies and fire departments. It ...

. The uniform was supplied by the council transport department and was similar to that issued to bus inspectors, but with woven shoulder patches with the words "Park Police".

Sillitoe tartan Sillitoe tartan is the nickname given to the distinctive black and white chequered pattern, correctly known as ''dicing'', which was originally associated with the police in Scotland. It later gained widespread use in the rest of the United Kin ...

, which was introduced to most

territorial police force A territorial police force is a police service that is responsible for an area defined by sub-national boundaries, distinguished from other police services which deal with the entire country or a type of crime. In countries organized as federations, ...

s in the late 1970s, was not used in the Parks Police. The cap badge was that issued to all uniformed staff of the borough council.

References

*Main reference:

Notes

{{UK private and military police forces Defunct park police forces of the United Kingdom Brighton

History

Uniform

See also

References

Notes