Dudley Borough Police was a police force in the Borough of Dudley, then an exclave of

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

, in England, from 1920–1966.

History

From 1839 until 1920, Dudley was policed by the Dudley Division of the

Worcestershire Constabulary Worcestershire Constabulary was the territorial police force responsible for policing rural Worcestershire in central England from 1839 until 1967, when it became part of West Mercia Constabulary. History The Worcestershire Constabulary was forme ...

. Unusually, while the Worcestershire Standing Joint Committee had control over the administration and discipline of Dudley's police, the Dudley's local

watch committee In England and Wales, watch committees were the local government bodies which oversaw policing from 1835 until, in some areas, 1968. Establishment The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 required each borough to establish a "watch committee" and to ...

was responsible for financial matters and recruitment. This caused many tensions. As a consequence, Dudley Borough Police was created, with effect from 1 April 1920. Following the recommendations of the 1960 Royal Commission on the Police, the force was merged, with

Walsall Borough Police Walsall Borough Police was a police force in the Borough of Walsall, then in Staffordshire, in England, from 1832–1966. History The force was created on 6 July 1832 with one superintendent and three constables. Following the Municipal C ...

and Wolverhampton Borough Police, and parts of the

Staffordshire Constabulary Staffordshire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent in the West Midlands of England. It is made up of eleven Local Policing Teams, whose boundaries are matched to the nine local authori ...

and Worcestershire Constabulary, into the

West Midlands Constabulary The West Midlands Constabulary was a police force in the West Midlands of England. It was created on 1 April 1966 under the Police Act 1964, with the re-organisation of the Black Country area as the five contiguous county boroughs of Dudley, W ...

from 1 April 1966.Home Office circular 67-1966 announcing the force's creation
/ref> Since a further merger in 1974, Dudley has been served by the

West Midlands Police West Midlands Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. The force covers an area of with 2.93million inhabitants, which includes the cities of Birmingham, Coventry, ...

Chief constables

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References

{{Commons category, Dudley Borough Police Defunct police forces of England 1920 establishments in England 1966 disestablishments in England Metropolitan Borough of Dudley History of Worcestershire Antecedents of the West Midlands Police