The Port of Felixstowe Police is a non- Home Office ports police force established in 1975, responsible for policing the

Port of Felixstowe The Port of Felixstowe, in Felixstowe, Suffolk, is the United Kingdom's busiest container port, dealing with 48% of Britain's containerised trade. In 2017, it was ranked as 43rd busiest container port in the world and 8th in Europe, with a han ...

in Felixstowe, Suffolk, United Kingdom.

Jurisdiction

Officers of this force are sworn in as special constables under section 79 of the

Harbours, Docks, and Piers Clauses Act 1847 The Harbours, Docks and Piers Clauses Act 1847 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which governs harbours, docks and piers. Port police The act allows two justices of the peace to swear in port police officers as "special constables" w ...

, as incorporated by section 3(1)(e) of the Felixstowe Dock and Railway Act 1956. As a result, officers have the full powers of a constable on any land owned by the

and at any place within one mile of any owned land. The Port Police operate their own small fleet of liveried police cars and vans. Additional security is provided by

MITIE Mitie Group PLC (pronounced "mighty") is a British strategic outsourcing and energy services company. It provides infrastructure consultancy, facilities management, property management, energy and healthcare services. It has a head office at The ...

Establishment

The force is commanded by the Chief Police Officer (currently J I Whitby), and is additionally made up of one

inspector Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it. Australia In Australian police forces, the rank of inspector is generally the ne ...

, four

sergeant Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...

s and 18

constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...

s. Two controllers and one secretary support the force. Constables work in one of four watches, designated 'A Watch', 'B Watch', 'C Watch', and 'D Watch', each supervised by a sergeant. For operational reasons, each watch requires a deputy supervisor, for which purpose four constables (one per watch) are afforded the rank of acting sergeant. As this is not a substantive rank, they are referenced as constables in policing statistics. The four watches report to the inspector, who as operations officer also supervises the control room and its two controllers. The 24 sworn police officers are assisted by three administrative staff and 64 contract security guards, who carry out routine gate control and search duties.

Station sergeant

The rank of station sergeant was once common in British police forces, but was phased out of most forces between 1973 and 1989. After 1989 the Port of Felixstowe Police held the distinction of being the only British police force to retain this historic rank. A single station sergeant functioned as a deputy to the inspector. In 2015, on the retirement of Inspector M Hayward, the last station sergeant (Station Sergeant A Miaoulis) was promoted to inspector, and the rank of station sergeant was abolished.

Rank table

The following table illustrates the ranks used in the force.

Operations

The Port of Felixstowe Police has self-defined its operational responsibilities under eight headings:See section 11 of the Port Fo
Publication Scheme
* Security at the port * Police protection to persons and property (including cargo) * Facilitating lawful free movement * Enforcing ISPS security code * Police assistance at incidents, accidents, and emergencies * Traffic management for the port complex (and outside the port, in conjunction with Suffolk Constabulary) * Escorting abnormal or specialist loads * Crime prevention, and crime reduction advice The local Home Office police force, Suffolk Constabulary, are responsible for dealing with serious crime incidents within the port.

References

External links

"Port Protection" section on the official website of the Port of Felixstowe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Port Of Felixstowe Police Police forces of England Port police forces of the United Kingdom Felixstowe