Surrey Police is the
territorial police force responsible for policing the
county
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
of
Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Are ...
in
South East England
South East England is one of the nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It consists of the counties of Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Berkshi ...
.
The force is currently led by Chief Constable Gavin Stephens. Previously the force was led by
Nick Ephgrave
Nicholas Bevan "Nick" Ephgrave is a senior British police officer. He is currently Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service. He was Senior Investigating Officer on the re-investigation of Damilola Taylor's murder.
Early life a ...
who left the force to re-join the Metropolitan Police. This was announced by the county PCC on 13 December 2018.
Previous to this, the chief constable was
Lynne Owens, Surrey's first female chief constable. Owens left in December 2015.
The force has its headquarters at Mount Browne,
Guildford, Surrey.
History
On 1 January 1851, the Surrey
Constabulary began its policing of the county with a total of 70 officers, the youngest of whom was 14 years old. The first Chief Constable was H. C. Hastings, who served in this capacity for 48 years. Originally
Guildford,
Reigate and
Godalming had separate borough police forces. The Reigate and Guildford forces were merged into Surrey's in 1943.
Today
Part of the present force area was originally part of the
Metropolitan Police District
The Metropolitan Police District (MPD) is the police area which is policed by the Metropolitan Police Service in London. It currently consists of the Greater London region, excluding the City of London. The Metropolitan Police District was create ...
, and was only transferred to the control of Surrey Police from the
Metropolitan Police
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...
in 2000. This includes the boroughs of
Epsom and Ewell,
Spelthorne and part of
Reigate and Banstead and
Elmbridge. Surrey Police was divided into three divisions but in 2010 became a single division, and as of March 2014 is policed by 1,938 regular police officers, in addition to 182
Special Constables and 153
Police Community Support Officers (see table below for more information). Surrey has one of the lowest crime rates 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 ...
and
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
. It has now reverted to three area divisions.
For 2017/18, Surrey Police has total expenditure of £224.1m, of which £183.2m goes on employee costs, £27.3m on supplies and services, £8.8m on premises, and £4.8m on transport. It also has £11.1m of income, resulting in "gross expenditure" of £213m.
The last permanent Chief Constable of Surrey Police was
Nick Ephgrave
Nicholas Bevan "Nick" Ephgrave is a senior British police officer. He is currently Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service. He was Senior Investigating Officer on the re-investigation of Damilola Taylor's murder.
Early life a ...
, appointed in July 2016. He had been temporary Chief Constable since December 2015 and was previously Deputy Chief Constable, having been in that role since July 2013. Before this he was a Commander in the
Metropolitan Police
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...
. The previous Chief Constable of Surrey Police was
Lynne Owens, who left to become the head of the
National Crime Agency.
Surrey Police has four main divisions: three area divisions, Northern, Eastern, and Western; and a specialist crime/ops division. Within the three division are multiple borough teams. Typically each borough will have a Neighbourhood Specialist Team (formerly they Safer Neighbourhood Team) and a Neighbourhood Policing Team (Formerly the Area Patrol Team/Targeted Patrol Team/Response). These borough teams are supported by investigative teams which span the whole division, this being the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the Safeguarding Investigation Unit (SIU).
The specialist crime division is often referred to as OPS, and includes specialist units. This being the Roads Policing Unit (RPU), Tactical Firearms Unit (TFU), Specialist Dog Handlers, Crime Scene Investigation Officers (formerly SOCOs).
There are further force wide teams, some of which are now joint teams with
Sussex Police
Sussex Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing in the whole of Sussex. Its jurisdiction covers the ceremonial counties of East Sussex and West Sussex. The force is headquartered in Malling House, Lewes, East Sussex.
His ...
, including the Paedophile and OnLine Investigation Team (POLIT), Major Crime Investigation Team (MCIT, Sussex/Surrey Joint team), Sexual Offences Investigation Team (SOIT) and then a range of support services typical of many forces.
Notes:
1. All figures are official Home Office figures.
2. All figures are full-time equivalents apart from for special constables which are a headcount.
3. Figures apply to 31 March of that year, e.g., 2008/09 figures are for 31 March 2009.
4. Designated Officers that are not PCSOs have one of three roles: investigation officer, detention officer or escort officer.
Senior people
Police and crime commissioners
The
first election for
Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner
The Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner is the police and crime commissioner, an elected official tasked with setting out the way crime is tackled by Surrey Police
Surrey Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the ...
took place on 15 November 2012.
Kevin Hurley
Kevin Barry Hurley, TD (born September 1953) is a British politician and former police officer. He was the Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner between November 2012 and May 2016. He previously served in the Metropolitan Police, reaching the ...
(independent, stood under the label "Zero Tolerance Policing ex Chief"), who was a retired Metropolitan Police borough commander, was elected. He defeated candidates from Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats, UKIP, plus an independent.
The
second election took place on 5 May 2016. The Conservative candidate,
David Munro, was elected. He defeated Jamie Goldrick, independent; Kevin Hurley; Camille Juliff, independent; Howard Kaye, Labour; Paul Kennedy, Liberal Democrat; and Julia Searle, UKIP.
Chief constables
Chief constables have been:
* 1851–1899: Captain Hastings
[
* 1899–1930: Captain Mowbray Lees Sant][
* 1930–1946: Major Geoffrey Nicholson][
* 1946–1956: Joseph Simpson (later Sir Joseph Simpson)][
* 1956–1968: Herman Rutherford][
* 1968–1982: Sir Peter Matthews
* 1982–1991: Brian Hayes
* 1991–1997: David Williams
* 1998–2000: Ian Blair][
* 2000–2004: Denis O'Connor][
* 2004–2008: Robert Quick][
* 2009–2011: Mark Rowley][
* 2012–2015: Lynne Owens][
* 2016–2019: ]Nick Ephgrave
Nicholas Bevan "Nick" Ephgrave is a senior British police officer. He is currently Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service. He was Senior Investigating Officer on the re-investigation of Damilola Taylor's murder.
Early life a ...
* 2019–present: Gavin Stephens
Ranks
Surrey Police has the following ranks. Every rank from constable to chief superintendent has a detective equivalent. These confer no additional powers or authority from their uniform equivalents.
* Chief constable
* Deputy chief constable
* Assistant chief constable
* Chief superintendent
* Superintendent
* Chief inspector
* Inspector
* Sergeant
* Constable
Air operations unit
Surrey has air operations covered by the National Police Air Service. The helicopter callsign NPAS15 which predominately covers the Surrey Policing area is based at Redhill Aerodrome and also covers the Sussex, West Hampshire and Essex Area.
Surrey Police Museum
To help celebrate its 150th anniversary, a museum portraying the history of the Force was opened at Mount Browne, the Surrey Police's headquarters in Guildford. Surrey resident Sir Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English actor. Known for his distinctive Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films in a career spanning seven decades, and is considered a British film icon ...
, CBE, opened the museum on 22 October 2001. Displays include artefacts and touch-screen technology, all tracing the history of the Force up to the present day.
Training of new recruits
Surrey Police now operates the PLC (police, law & community) course method of training and recruitment. This course ensures that potential recruits already possess knowledge of police law before applying to join Surrey Police. The course is run by several colleges in Surrey, as well as the University of Portsmouth
The University of Portsmouth is a public university in Portsmouth, England. It is one of only four universities in the South East England, South East of England rated as Gold in the Government's Teaching Excellence Framework. With approximately 28 ...
. Although the PLC certificate can be obtained with a pass mark of 40% in the final examination, Surrey Police require a pass mark of 60% to become eligible to reach the application stage of the recruitment process.
The course allows the training phase of a police officer to be reduced by 15 weeks.
Complaints
There were 710 complaint cases for Surrey Police in 2009/10. This is a 206% change on the 2003/04 figure. This is the second highest increase (after Northamptonshire) of all 43 forces in England and Wales
England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is ...
. For comparison, the average change across forces in England and Wales over the same period was 113%. Surrey Police have been condemned by a coroner's jury over the death of Terry Smith who was restrained and put in a spit hood and kept in restraints for over two hours despite saying repeatedly that he could not breathe.
Proposed merger with Sussex Police
Under controversial merger plans announced by then Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, in 2006, the number of police forces 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 ...
and Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
would have been cut from 43 to 24. Proposals put forward on 20 March 2006 would have seen the Surrey force merged with Sussex Police
Sussex Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing in the whole of Sussex. Its jurisdiction covers the ceremonial counties of East Sussex and West Sussex. The force is headquartered in Malling House, Lewes, East Sussex.
His ...
to form a single strategic police force for the area.
Police authorities had until 7 April 2006 to respond to the plans; the Home Secretary then announced on 11 April 2006 that Surrey Police and Sussex Police would merge by 2008. However, on 12 July 2006, a Government minister announced that all proposed police merger plans in England and Wales were on hold.
Although, as of 2018, there are no plans to merge Surrey and Sussex Police into one force, the two organisations do have certain specialist departments which are shared across both force areas such as the firearms & roads policing units and alongside major investigations.
Crime and detection rates
Surrey has the joint seventh lowest crime rate (with one other force) of the 43 force areas in England and Wales, with 55 crimes per 1,000 population. In the year to the end of March 2012 there were 61,757 crimes recorded in Surrey, according to Office for National Statistics figures published in July 2012. This is a 5.2% drop on 2010/11 when there were 65,125 crimes recorded in Surrey.
Despite having the joint seventh lowest crime rate, the detection rate for offences was the joint second lowest (with one other force) of the 43 forces in England and Wales, with a rate of 20 percent. The average for England and Wales was 27 percent.
Future of Surrey Police
In a report published by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in July 2011, the impact on the number of police officers and staff partly due to the reduction to Surrey Police's budget following the comprehensive spending review is as follows:
Notable cases
* Guildford Four and Maguire Seven
* Deaths at Deepcut army barracks
* Murder of Milly Dowler
* Operation Arundel and Operation Ravine
Breakdown of officer numbers
Road casualties in Surrey
As well as preventing and detecting crime, Surrey Police say that "dealing with road accidents forms a large part of our job, or at least taking measures to try and prevent them". The following table shows the number of casualties, grouped by severity, on Surrey's roads over recent years.
Criticism by the IPCC
Lack of investigation of phone hacking
In criticism widely reported in the media, Deborah Glass, Deputy Chair of the IPCC, said in a six-page report regarding the hacking in 2002 of the phone of the murdered Milly Dowler:
"It is apparent from the evidence that there was knowledge of this at all levels within the investigation team.
"There is equally no doubt that Surrey Police did nothing to investigate it; nobody was arrested or charged in relation to the alleged interception of those messages either in 2002 or subsequently, until the Operation Weeting arrests in 2011.
"Phone hacking was a crime in 2002 and it should have been investigated. ..We have not been able to uncover any evidence, in documentation or witness statements, of why and by whom that decision ot to investigatewas made: former senior officers in particular appear to have been afflicted by a form of collective amnesia about this." She also said: "In view of the widespread knowledge uncovered in this investigation, we consider that it is scarcely credible that no one connected to the Milly Dowler investigation recognised the relevance and importance of the knowledge that Surrey Police had in 2002, before this information was disclosed by Operation Weeting."
Return of firearms used in double murder
In Farnham in February 2014, John Lowe murdered Christine and Lucy Lee, using one of his firearms that had been returned to him by Surrey Police. In October 2014, Lowe was convicted of their murders and received a life sentence with a minimum term of 25 years.
Two independent reports by Hampshire Constabulary and North Yorkshire Police criticised the decision to return his firearms, which prompted the IPCC to launch an independent investigation. This investigation concluded in February 2016 and it published its findings in a 73-page report in April 2017.[IPCC (26 April 2017)]
Investigation into the decision by Surrey Police to return firearms to Mr Lowe prior to the fatal shootings of Christine and Lucy Lee. Independent investigation report.
Retrieved 26 April 2017. IPCC associate commissioner Tom Milsom said: "Our investigation paints a deeply concerning portrait of how Surrey Police's firearms licensing team operated at that time. We found a unit which lacked the necessary training and processes to manage such a serious responsibility, staffed by individuals who were failing to undertake their duties with rigour and due consideration."
Two staff members left Surrey Police as a result of this investigation, one being dismissed for gross misconduct and the other retiring before a hearing for gross misconduct could take place.
The IPCC also conducted a separate independent investigation into complaints made by Stacey Banner, the daughter of Christine Lee and sister of Lucy Lee, who was arrested in a separate incident weeks after the murders. The IPCC found that a detective constable and a detective sergeant had cases to answer for misconduct and a detective inspector for gross misconduct.
See also
* List of law enforcement agencies in the United Kingdom, Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories
* Law enforcement in the United Kingdom
Other Surrey emergency services
* Surrey Fire & Rescue Service
* South East Coast Ambulance Service
* SURSAR
Surrey Search and Rescue (SurSAR) is a lowland search and rescue team based in Surrey, United Kingdom, who respond for missing person search, water rescue, drone imaging and other taskings at the request of Surrey Police and Surrey Fire and Resc ...
References
External links
*
Surrey Police
at HMICFRS
*
Webcasts of management meetings between PCC and Chief Constable
{{UK home nations police forces
Police forces of England
Police
Organizations established in 1851
1851 establishments in England