Beginnings The origins of Cambridgeshire Constabulary date back to 1836, when the first police force within what are now the current boundaries of the force area was set up in the city of Cambridge under the name
Cambridge Borough Police. This was followed in 1841 by establishment of the Isle of Ely Constabulary, covering the city of Ely, as well as Chatteris and March. Cambridgeshire County Constabulary was formed in 1851 to police those rural parts of the county outside the jurisdiction of the Cambridge Borough Police. Huntingdonshire, the city and soke of Peterborough and the borough of Wisbech did not start their own forces until the passage of the
County and Borough Police Act 1856. Wisbech Borough Police came under the authority of the Isle of Ely Constabulary in 1889. In 1949, the two forces that covered the city of Peterborough; the
Liberty of Peterborough Constabulary and the
Peterborough City Police merged to form
Peterborough Combined Police. Cambridge Borough Police was renamed
Cambridge City Police in 1951.
Mid-Anglia Constabulary to Cambridgeshire Constabulary In 1965, all five forces that exist in the Cambridgeshire area (Cambridge City Police, Cambridgeshire Constabulary, Isle of Ely Constabulary, Huntingdonshire Constabulary, and Peterborough Combined Police) amalgamated to form the new Mid-Anglia Constabulary. The force was renamed Cambridgeshire Constabulary in 1974, when the new non-metropolitan county of Cambridgeshire was created by the Local Government Act 1972 with identical boundaries to the Mid-Anglia Constabulary area. In 2001 the constabulary conducted one of Peterborough's biggest police enquiries following the racist
murder of teenager Ross Parker. 2002 saw the
Soham murders, an event that led to the biggest investigation in the history of Cambridgeshire police and one of the most expensive in the country, costing £3.5million.
Past and current collaboration In March 2006, as part of a review on policing nationally, the then Home Secretary
Charles Clarke proposed the creation of an East Anglian force merging Cambridgeshire with Norfolk and
Suffolk. While Norfolk and Cambridgeshire supported it, Suffolk would have preferred to be part of an "Eastern Coastal" force, with Norfolk and
Essex. Essex, on the other hand, wanted to stay alone. However, these proposes were scrapped after a cabinet reshuffle, making
John Reid the new Home Secretary. Since 2010, the force has been
collaborating with
Bedfordshire Police and
Hertfordshire Constabulary to form a mid-Anglia "triforce", with various departments collaborating to make local efficiencies with resources. Areas that have collaborated include Human Resources, Information Technology, Major Crime Unit,
Dog Unit,
Tactical Firearms Unit, Information Management Unit, Tickets and Collisions Office,
Road Policing Unit,
Scenes of Crime and Procurement. There is also collaboration on a seven-force function with the adjacent forces of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and
Kent with serious incident,
counter terrorism and intelligence under
the regional organised crime unit, the
Eastern Region Special Operations Unit (ERSOU). Vehicle procurement is done in association with
Thames Valley Police,
British Transport Police and
Civil Nuclear Constabulary as well as Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire under the Chiltern Transport Consortium.
Chief constables Cambridgeshire Constabulary (1851) • 18511876: Captain George Davies • 18771888: Captain Reginald Calvert • 18881915: Charles J D Stretten • 20052010:
Julie Spence • 20102015:
Simon Parr • 20152018: Alec Wood • 2018present: Nick Dean
Officers killed in the line of duty The
Police Roll of Honour Trust and
Police Memorial Trust list and commemorate all British police officers killed in the line of duty. Since its establishment in 1984, the Police Memorial Trust has erected 50 memorials nationally to some of those officers. The following officers of Cambridgeshire Constabulary were killed while they were on duty, or returning to / from duty: ==Operations==