Kent Police

On 14 January 1857, a 222-strong 'Kent County Constabulary' was formed under Chief Constable John Henry Hay Ruxton. The first headquarters was at Wrens Cross, Stone Street, Maidstone, and was rented for use by the police until 23 November 1860, when the force purchased it for £1,200.[3] It was responsible for policing those parts of the county not already under the jurisdiction of local Borough police forces.

In 1860, the initial uniform of a frock coat and a high hat was replaced by a long uniform tunic and shako hat and constables were issued with a rattle and truncheon. In 1885, whistles were introduced. In 1897, the recognisable custodian helmet was introduced. In 1974, the familiar Cox Comb helmet replaced the Rose Top helmet with a new helmet plate.

On 1 April 1889, Kent County Constabulary absorbed the borough police forces of Deal, Hythe, Faversham, Sandwich, and Tenterden, five of the fourteen local police forces that then policed boroughs within the county of Kent.[3] The remaining nine were absorbed on 1 April 1943, these being the borough forces of Dover, Folkestone, Gravesend, Maidstone, Margate, Ramsgate, and Tunbridge Wells, together with the Canterbury City Police, and the Rochester City Police.[3] Ruxton retired on 14 August 1894 and died on 20 April 1897.

Kent County Constabulary purchased 20 bicycles in 1896, a number which rose to 129 by 1904. Telephones were given to village police constables in 1925 and by 1931, 29 motorcycles had been introduced, along with one police car. The constabulary employed horses until 1943, when the last was retired.

In 1965, the force had an establishment of 1,988 attested constables and an actual strength of 1,766, making it the third largest county force in Great Britain.[4]

Kent County Constabulary was the last British force to keep the word "county" in its official title. It changed its name to Kent Police in 2002. The main argument for the change was that the large number of visitors coming through the Channel Tunnel and the ports would understand the word "Police" more readily than "Constabulary". [5]

Kent Police was the first force in the United Kingdom to be led by a black chief constable, Michael Fuller, who held the role from 2004 to 2010.

Since 1940, Kent Police HQ has been located at Sutton Road, Maidstone.[6] The force announced in 2020 that the HQ was no longer providing value for money and would be sold. The Chief Officer team will relocate to North Kent Police Station.[7] Kent Police College is located on Coverdale Avenue, Maidstone. Kent Police museum is located in Faversham Police Station.

After years of personnel cuts announced in 2010 and starting in 2011, that saw officer numbers fall from a peak of almost 3,800 in 2010 to under 3,200 by 2016, it was announced in March 2018 that Kent Police would launch the largest recruitment campaign in its history aiming to recruit over 200 more officers over the next one to two years. This was made possible due to an increase in the tax funding the police receive from county residents. The campaign was successful with over 200 officers recruited in 2018 and 2019 bringing the force to over 3,400 officers.[8]

It was further announced in January 2019 that the PCC Matthew Scott was proposing another tax increase in the 2019/20 period in the amount of money Kent Police receive from county residents in order to recruit a further 180 officers by 2020. This proposal was approved and increased the number of officers in the force to over 3,600 by 2020.[9]

As part of the national campaign announced by the government in late 2019 to recruit 20,000 more police officers across all of the 43 police forces in England and Wales by early 2023 it was announced that Kent would receive government funding to recruit 147 officers in the first wave of 6,000 in 2020 with the other 14,000 expected in 2021 and 2022. Additional funding for 34 more officers was also underwritten by the police crime commissioner bringing the total number of extra funded officers in 2020 to 181. This increased the number of officers to over 3,800 by 2021.[10] Under current plans the total number of officers is expected to increase to over 4,100 by March 2023 giving Kent Police its largest amount of officers ever since the force was formed.

His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) conducts a periodic police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy (PEEL) inspection of each police service's performance. In its latest PEEL inspection, Kent Police was rated as follows:[21]

As of December 2022:[22]

• Kent Police and Crime Commissioner – Matthew Scott
• Chief constable – Tim Smith
• Deputy chief constable – DCC Peter Ayling. Responsible for: operational delivery and performance, performance management and professional standards.
• Assistant chief constable – ACC Vaughan Lukey. Responsible for: Tactical Operations, Force Control Room, and Counter-Terrorism Policing. (Temporary)
• Assistant chief constable – ACC Adam Ball. Responsible for: Local Policing (Temporary)
• Assistant chief constable – ACC Andrew Pritchard. Responsible for: Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate.
• Assistant chief constable – ACC Tracey Harman. Responsible for: Crime.

Kent Police has featured in numerous television programmes and fly on the wall documentaries. These include Street Wars, which featured the Medway 'tac team', Night Cops which featured officers from Thanet and Canterbury during night shifts,[23] and ITV's Cops with Cameras which featured the force's Roads Policing Unit on motorway patrol.[24]

In 2010, Kent Police appeared in two episodes of Coppers, series 1. Episode 1 focused on the custody suite at Medway Police station, while episode 3 focused on 999 emergency calls received by Kent Police.

In 2019, a three part Channel 5 documentary, Manhunt: Catch Me If You Can, featured the force's Gypsy Liaison Team, referred to in the show as the 'Specialist Tactical Unit', as they hunted down and arrested some of the county's high priority outstanding suspects, or 'red' offenders.[25] Camera crews for the show inadvertently captured three members of the team entering a property in Walderslade and searching for a wanted arsonist without a warrant or grounds to do so, as well as one of them subsequently verbally abusing the occupants. Although the footage wasn't broadcast, it was shown to a Kent Police misconduct panel and the abusive officer was given a written warning.[26]

In 2021, a three part Channel 4 documentary, Undercover Police: Hunting Paedophiles, will follow investigations conducted by the force's Paedophile Online Investigation Team as well as officers from the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit.[27] On 15 April 2019, Russell Cordes, a 49 year old suspected paedophile from Dover, returned to his home to find detectives searching the address and a camera crew for the show filming outside after indecent images of children were downloaded from his IP address. Cordes failed to show up for a voluntary interview at Canterbury Police Station the following day and PCSOs subsequently found him dead at his home on 18 April, he had committed suicide. Cordes' family claimed at the inquest into his death that the officers had 'blood on their hands' and that the camera crew being present was a 'catalyst' to his death. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) cleared Kent Police of wrongdoing but did suggest the force should review the policy of allowing camera crews to accompany officers, footage relating to Cordes will not feature in the show.[28]

The force has appeared a number times in the BBC documentary Critical Incident.[29] The show has featured an incident during which a Kent Police officer was knocked over and injured by a dangerous driver,[30] an officer being attacked with a knife in an address in Ashford,[31] firearms officers pursuing a vehicle,[32] and officers using their belts to rescue a man dangling in Northfleet Quarry.[33]

Officers from the Serious Crime Directorate discussed the 2013 murder of Anne-Marie Birch in the BBC documentary Love You to Death: A Year of Domestic Violence,[34] and the Sarah Wellgreen case the Sky documentary Killer in my Village.[35]

Kent Police detectives and officers were featured arresting numerous fraud suspects in an episode of the ITV show Tonight entitled "Fraud: The Public Threat".[36]

Operation Stack, and more recently Operation Brock have been implemented numerous times over the years by Kent Police under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. Both manage HGV traffic in the event of disruption at the Port of Dover or the Channel Tunnel but remain highly controversial tactics.

On 4 July 1996, Lin Russell, her daughters Megan and Josie, and their dog were attacked with a hammer in Chillenden. Only Josie survived and, in 2001, Michael Stone was convicted of the two murders. Numerous appeals against his conviction have since failed despite claims that serial killer Levi Bellfield may instead have been responsible.[37]

On 28 Aug 2001, serving Kent Police officer Karl Bluestone murdered his wife and two of his four children before committing suicide at his home in Gravesend.[38]

In Feb of 2006, Kent Police investigated the 'Securitas' robbery, during which a gang of six stole approximately £53 million from a Securitas depot in Tonbridge. The gang received over 100 years in prison between them and £21 million has never been recovered, the incident remains the largest cash robbery in the UK to date.[39]

On 11 June 2007, Kent Police shot and lawfully killed Anne Sanderson after she pointed what was later identified as an air pistol towards armed officers in Sevenoaks.[40]

In November 2007, Kent Police and Essex Police began a search of serial killer Peter Tobin's former home in Irvine Drive, Margate. Two bodies were located, recovered, and later identified as those of Vicky Hamilton, who went missing from Falkirk in February 1991, and Dinah McNicol, who went missing from Tillingham in August 1991. Tobin was convicted in December 2008 for murdering Hamilton and convicted in December 2009 for murdering McNicol.[41]

On 29 December 2007, Kent Police shot and lawfully killed Dayniel Tucker after he pointed what was later identified as a plastic Uzi towards armed officers in Stansted.[42]

On 26 November 2009, Kent Police shot and wounded Tomas Uptas after he threatened members of the public in the street with what was later identified as a BB gun and then pointed it towards armed officers in a supermarket in Canterbury. Kent Police later found the body of Loreta Raupiene in a nearby flat, Uptas was convicted of her murder in August 2010.[43]

On the morning of 5 September 2013, thick fog on the Sheppey Crossing resulted in approximately 130 vehicles piling up. Two hundred injured people were triaged at the scene by South East Coast Ambulance Service and 35 were taken to hospitals in Medway, Ashford, Margate, Maidstone, Canterbury, and London. Eight of these were seriously injured and five had to be cut free from their cars by Kent Fire and Rescue Service. No one was killed but the incident remains the worst of its kind since a 160-car pile-up killed three people on the M42 in March 1997. Thirty two drivers were offered driver improvement courses as an alternative to prosecution by Kent Police.[44][45][46]

On 8 February 2015, Kent Police shot and wounded Marc Traylor after he stabbed and wounded his daughter, Kitanna Traylor, during a psychotic episode at their home in Hersden.[47]

On 2 May 2016, Kent Police shot and lawfully killed William Smith after he pointed a single-barrelled shotgun towards armed officers in Goudhurst when they tried to arrest him for murdering Roy Blackman at his home in Biddenden earlier that year.[48]

In October 2018, Kent Police began a search for the missing mother of five Sarah Wellgreen. Her ex-partner Ben Lacomba was convicted of her murder in 2019. Wellgreen's body has not been located as of December 2021.[49]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kent Police.

• Official website
• Kent Police at HMICFRS
• A history of Kent Police - Kent Police Museum
• The Kent Police Band