Somerset and Bath Constabulary was a short-lived police force in

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 ...

which existed from 1967 to 1974. It was responsible for policing the

administrative county An administrative county was a first-level administrative division in England and Wales from 1888 to 1974, and in Ireland from 1899 until either 1973 (in Northern Ireland) or 2002 (in the Republic of Ireland). They are now abolished, although mos ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

and the

county borough County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent ter ...

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

. The force was formed following the amalgamation of

Somerset Constabulary Somerset Constabulary was the police force responsible for policing the county of Somerset, England, between 1856 and 1967. It was formed as a result of the County and Borough Police Act 1856 The County and Borough Police Act 1856 or the Police A ...

and

Bath City Police The Bath City Police was a police force responsible for policing the County Borough of Bath in Somerset, England. It existed between 1836 and 1967. The Bath City Police, as an organization, was formed as a result of Municipal Corporations Act 183 ...

on 1 January 1967. The amalgamation came as a result of the

Police Act 1964 The Police Act 1964 (1964 c.48) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that updated the legislation governing police forces in England and Wales, constituted new police authorities, gave the Home Secretary new powers to supervise lo ...

, which significantly reduced the number of individual police forces in England and Wales. The Act did give the

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...

the power to mandate amalgamations, however both preceding forces agreed to a voluntary amalgamation. At the time of formation the force had 912 officers and was responsible for policing a population of 644,460. The force was abolished just over 7 years later on 31 March 1974 as a result of the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

. The force merged with

Bristol City Police Bristol Constabulary, also called Bristol City Police, was a police force responsible for policing the city of Bristol in south-west England from its foundation in 1835 until 1974, when it was amalgamated under the Local Government Act 1972 with S ...

and parts of the

Gloucestershire Constabulary Gloucestershire Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing the non-metropolitan county of Gloucestershire in England. The force formerly covered the area of South Gloucestershire, however this was transformed to the ...

to form

Avon and Somerset Constabulary Avon and Somerset Police is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement in the county of Somerset and in four districts that used to be in the defunct county of Avon: Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset and So ...

, which polices the area to this day.

References

{{reflist 1967 establishments in England 1974 disestablishments in England 20th century in Somerset Defunct police forces of England Organisations based in Bath, Somerset Organisations based in Somerset History of Bath, Somerset History of Somerset