The Admiralty Constabulary was a

police force The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

formed under the Special Constables Act 1923 which existed from 1949 to 1971.

History

The Constabulary can trace its history back to 1686 when the Royal Navy needed an organisation to prevent

dockyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance ...

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

. So the

Secretary to the Admiralty S, or s, is the nineteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ess'' (pronounced ), plural ''esses''. Histor ...

- Samuel Pepys, the diarist - formed a force of 'porters, rounders, warders and watchmen' to guard the Naval Yards. Porters identified and escorted visitors, rounders patrolled the yard, warders were responsible for the keys and backed up the porters at the gates, and the part-time watchmen guarded buildings and areas by night. In 1834 this force became the first dockyard police, with full police powers within the dockyards, and acting as policemen over offences committed by employees and Naval personnel within a radius of five miles of the yard. Rewards for obtaining convictions quickly led to corruption, so the force was 'cleaned up' and then abolished. In 1860 dockyard divisions of the Metropolitan Police took over and senior Naval officers became magistrates. From 1923 onwards the Metropolitan Police presence began to be replaced by Royal Marines appointed as special constables under the Special Constables Act 1923. No. 3 (Devonport) Division was the last of these six divisions to be pulled out, leaving in 1934, the year which also saw the formal formation of the

Royal Marine Police The Royal Marine Police (RMP) was a police force in the United Kingdom formed under the Special Constables Act 1923 which existed from 1934 to 1949. History The Constabulary can trace its history back to 1686 when the Royal Navy needed an organi ...

. By 1945 the Admiralty's Chief Constable headed not only the Royal Marine Police, but also the Royal Marine Police Special Reserve and in naval hospitals the Admiralty Civil Police. All three of these forces were merged on 1 October 1949 to form a new Admiralty Constabulary. That Admiralty Constabulary was in turn amalgamated with the Army Department Constabulary and the

Air Force Department Constabulary The Air Force Department Constabulary (formerly the Air Ministry Constabulary) was a police force in the United Kingdom, responsible for policing the airfields and aerodromes under the control of the Air Ministry, later the Air Force Department. ...

in 1971 to form the

Ministry of Defence Police The Ministry of Defence Police (MDP) is a civilian special police force which is part of the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence. The MDP's primary responsibilities are to provide armed security and counter terrorism services to designated hig ...

Notes

Sources

* Button, Mark (2012). Private Policing. Oxford, England: Routledge. .
Focus on the Ministry of Defence Police (MDP), QuestOnline
* Hind, Bob (24 April 2016). "In days when the Admiralty ran its own police force". The News. * Ministry of Defence Police Bill ords(Hansard, 27 January 1987)". hansard.millbanksystems.com. Hansard, vol 109 cc276-85. Retrieved 13 March 2018.

External links

Royal Navy Admiralty departments Defunct police forces of the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence Police 1949 establishments in the United Kingdom 1971 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Civilian police forces of defense ministries * {{UK-law-enforcement-agency-stub

History

See also

Notes

Sources

External links