Fife Constabulary was the

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, ...

responsible for the Scottish

council area {{Unreferenced, date=May 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) A council area is one of the areas defined in Schedule 1 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 and is under the control of one of the local authorities in Scotland created by that Act. ...

of Fife. The area policed by Fife Constabulary had a resident population of just over 350,000, almost a third of whom lived in one of the three principal towns of Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy and

Glenrothes Glenrothes (; , ; sco, Glenrothes; gd, Gleann Rathais) is a town situated in the heart of Fife, in east-central Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south of Dundee. The town had a population of 39,277 in the 2011 census, making it ...

. The force was established in 1949 following the amalgamation of the originally independent Fife County, Dunfermline City and Kirkcaldy Burgh police forces. Then the number of Police Officers totalled 345, supported by 26 civilian staff. During 1949 officers dealt with 7,492 crimes and offences. At dissolution the force had 1027 Officers, who were assisted by 119 Special Constables and approximately 538 support staff. Fife Constabulary dealt with around 65,000 crimes and offences annually. The Chief Constable was responsible for ensuring that the deployment and organisation of personnel is consistent with the demands on the Force. Operational resources were allocated according to the needs of local communities and are complemented by professional administrative and support staff. An

Act of the Scottish Parliament An Act of the Scottish Parliament ( gd, Achd Pàrlamaid na h-Alba) is primary legislation made by the Scottish Parliament. The power to create Acts was conferred to the Parliament by section 28 of the Scotland Act 1998 following the success ...

, the ''Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012'', created a single Police Service of Scotland - to be known as

Police Scotland Police Scotland ( gd, Poileas Alba), officially the Police Service of Scotland (), is the national police force of Scotland. It was formed in 2013, through the merging of eight regional police forces in Scotland, as well as the specialist service ...

- with effect from 1 April 2013. This will merge the eight regional police forces in Scotland (including Fife Constabulary), together with the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, into a single service covering the whole of Scotland. Police Scotland has its headquarters at the Scottish Police College at Tulliallan in Fife.

Divisions

Fife Constabulary was divided into three Territorial Divisions. Western Division had a population of approximately 133,000 and its Divisional HQ in Dunfermline. It contained the Scottish Police College at Tulliallan Castle, Kincardine-on-Forth. Central Division was the smallest of the three Divisions but the most densely populated with 148,000 residents, and Divisional HQ in Kirkcaldy. Eastern Division was the largest of the three but had the smallest population of some 69,000. Major concentrations of population are Cupar, home to the Divisional HQ, and St Andrews. Western and Central Divisions were headed by a Chief Superintendent and a Superintendent, and Eastern Division by a Superintendent and a Chief Inspector.

Force Headquarters

The majority of Fife Constabulary's departments and specialist units were based at modern, purpose-built Headquarters, situated at Detroit Road in Viewfield,

which were opened on 25 March 1996. They replaced the previous building at Dysart, Fife, Dysart which had been the HQ since 1975. The building includes modern office accommodation, training facilities, lecture theatre, library, garage & communications workshops, television studio, gymnasium, and an indoor firearms range. In 2004, a new Contact Centre was opened on the Headquarters campus, enabling the Force to bring together under one roof the call handling and despatching services which had previously been dispersed across Police stations in Fife.

Regional police stations

Fife Constabulary also had police stations in Aberdour, Anstruther, Auchtermuchty, Ballingry, Burntisland, Cardenden, Cowdenbeath, Cupar, Dunfermline Dalgety Bay,

, Inverkeithing, Kelty, Kennoway, Kincardine-on-Forth, Kincardine, Leven, Fife, Leven, Levenmouth, Lochgelly, Newmills, Fife Oakley, Fife, Oakley, Rosyth, Tayport and Wormit.

Chief Constables

*1949–1955 : Sir John Inch *1955–1966 : Andrew Meldrum (police officer), Andrew Meldrum *<1971–1984 : Robert Fraser Murison *?–1996 William MacDougal Moodie *1996–2000 : John Hamilton *2001–2008 : Peter Wilson *2008–2012 : Norma Graham *2012–2013 : Andrew Barker

Trivia

*Traffic Officers from the Force made an appearance on the UK motoring show ''Top Gear (current format), Top Gear'', during the Caterham Challenge, pulling over the show's test driver, The Stig, and arresting him for speeding. Because of this, the presenters won the challenge.

References

External links

Fife Police
{{Authority control Fife Defunct police forces of Scotland 1949 establishments in Scotland Organizations established in 1949 Government agencies disestablished in 2013 2013 disestablishments in Scotland