150 Years of Dorset’s Police

1829 Metropolitan Police established in London.
1835 Municipal Corporations Act empowered borough councils to establish paid police forces.
1839 County Police Act enabled justices of the peace to appoint constables in rural areas.
1856 County and Borough Police Act compelled all counties to establish organised forces led by a chief constable. The Dorset Constabulary came into being. Its first chief constable was Colonel Samuel Symes Cox. Cox appointed 10 superintendents, nine
sergeants and 90 constables, to be paid £130, £90 and £80 per annum respectively. The Chief Constable earned £350 per annum but he had to pay for his own uniform, clerk and horse.
1862 Police stations had been built at Dorchester, Beaminster, Cerne Abbas, Wareham,
Blandford, Wimborne, Cranborne, Sturminster, Sherborne and Shaftesbury. Officers kept journals to record their duties and events, hence the pocket book was born.
1867 Chief Constable Cox was succeeded by former army officer, Captain Amyatt Brown. Brown ordered the entire force to grow moustaches.
1894 The first bicycle was purchased for use in Dorchester and by 1896 officers were
paid £3 per annum for using their own machine whilst on duty.
1898 Captain Brown was succeeded by Captain Dennis Granville.
1905 Granville refused the request to grant members of the force one day of rest a month as this would provide 22 days of rest a year, far in excess of that granted to
men in civil employment. He agreed to four extra days for sergeants and between one and three for constables, depending on their class.
1907 Granville defied convention and purchased a grey uniform with matching helmet for the force to wear during the summer. This was smarter, more comfortable and did not show the dust from the roads.
1908 The first detective officer was appointed and stationed at Dorchester. He was to assist in cases where the crime was complicated.
1914 The outbreak of World War One saw 10 officers die in the conflict. At this time all unmarried officers were forbidden to marry without the permission of their chief constable, who had to ensure that the officer had £50 and the bride was suitable.
1919 Horses were now being phased out and at this time the first motorcycle and side
car could be hired for £2 a week. Three Douglas motorcycles were purchased.
1922 The first cars were introduced.
1930 The Home Secretary urged chief constables to provide mobile police to enforce the Road Traffic Act.
1937 The first Dorset policewoman was hired, Miss Helen Court, a graduate of Aberdeen University.
1939 The outbreak of World War Two saw an increase in the role of the Special
Constabulary, who were provided with uniforms of their own.
1950 Wireless communications were being used.
1955 Major Peel Yates retired after nearly 31 years as chief constable, to be replaced by Ronald Berry Greenwood, OBE. Berry Greenwood introduced the first radar speed meters in Dorset.
1966 UHF personal radio sets issued to beat officers.
1967 The Dorset and Bournemouth Police areas amalgamated.
1960s and early 1970s Rural beat officers replaced the village‘bobby’.
1974 There was further amalgamation as the County of Dorset was enlarged. A new
force known as Dorset Police emerged.
1982 Chief Constable Brian Weight appointed. He established a Community Liaison
Department, including schools liaison work.
1999 By this date, CS gas had been piloted and introduced for all officers. Jane Stichbury appointed the county’s first woman chief constable. During her time, she introduced body armour for all police officers and Special Constables. The Police Community Support Officer was seen for the first time.
2005 Chief Constable Martin Baker appointed.