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'North Wales Police' () is the Home Office police force responsible for policing North Wales. The headquarters are in Colwyn Bay, with divisional headquarters in St Asaph, Caernarfon and Wrexham.
The North Wales Police Authority consists of 17 members, of which 9 are councillors, 3 are magistrates and 5 are independent members). The councillors are appointed by a Joint Committee of the principal area councils of Anglesey, Conwy, Gwynedd, Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham.
Under proposals made by the Home Secretary on February 6, 2006, the force would merge with Gwent Police, South Wales Police and Dyfed-Powys Police, to form a single strategic force for all of Wales. This proposal has come up against particular criticism in North Wales, which tends to have stronger transport and economic links with north-west England than with the rest of Wales.^[1]

Contents

History

Controversy

See also

References

External links

History

A 'Gwynedd Constabulary' was formed in 1950 by the merger of the county forces for Caernarfonshire, Anglesey and Merionethshire. This force was itself amalgamated with the Flintshire and Denbighshire forces in 1967, the combined force also being known as the Gwynedd Constabulary.
In 1974, the Local Government Act 1972 created an administrative county of Gwynedd covering the western part of the police area (equivalent to the original Gwynedd Constabulary area). As a result of this, the force was renamed North Wales Police on April 1, 1974.

Controversy

In recent years North Wales Police has attracted a great deal of media attention above and beyond its size. Many have attributed this phenomenon to its current Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom, who accepts he is obsessed with speeding motorists.^[2] He has often courted controversy and publicity through his vocal views on speeding motorists and the legalisation of drugs. The Sun newspaper dubbed him the "Mad Mullah of the Traffic Taleban." Despite this negative publicity he has earned respect for learning the Welsh language, actively promoting the normalisation of its use within the force at all levels and conversing publicly through it on numerous occasions. He is also credited with modernising the organisation's infrastructure in comparison with other areas of Britain.
In April 2007, Brunstrom came under fire for an incident in which he showed a photograph of the decapitated head of a biker in a press meeting without the families' permission. He maintains that it was a 'closed' meeting, a point made both on the invitation and verbally, and that no details of the picture should have been leaked. It has also drawn criticism because the photo enabled the media to identify the deceased, since he was wearing a distinctive t-shirt with an anti-police message on it, which gained a lot of attention during the inquest.^[3] Motorcycle News magazine has handed in a 1,600 signature petition to the Independent Police Complaints Commission in London requesting Brunstrom be removed,^[4] while a petition has been started on the 10 Downing Street website. The Independent Police Complaints Commission has confirmed it will carry out an independent review into the incident.^[5]
Although publically chastised, it is not oft reported that the wholly innocent party with whom the motorcyclist crashed head on, on the wrong side of the road suffered life threatening injuries from which he will never recover. The motorcyclist was wearing a t-shirt with a message intimating that the police should "Go catch some real criminals", so obviously Brunstrom was making the reasonable point to the media that in his opinion dangerous motorcycling is a killer. It would be interesting to see figures to show how many lives have been destroyed by these alleged "serious crimes" such as burglary, whereas Brunstroms, much derided, interest in motoring which just so happens to cripple and kill, ruining lives for thousands of families each year.
North Wales Police has also attracted attention due to its investigation into so called "Anti-Welsh" incidents attributed to TV personality Anne Robinson and the Prime Minister Tony Blair. The force was believed to have carried out these investigations following complaints from members of the public. The 10-month investigation into the Prime Minister was dropped on July 11 2006 due to a lack of evidence. It had cost £1,656, whereas the Anne Robinson investigation cost £3,800.^[6]
In 2006 the force attracted even more widespread publicity when a retired Detective Sergeant was prosecuted for alleged homophobic remarks made to a van full of officers in Wrexham. After the retired officer was acquitted it was alleged that the force was gripped by a culture of political correctness which prevented officers from making reasoned judgements.

See also

★ List of police forces in the United Kingdom

★ Policing in the United Kingdom

★ North Wales Fire and Rescue Service

References

1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/4684590.stm
2. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/3978957.stm
3. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/6600995.stm
4. http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/News/newsresults/mcn/2007/May/may7tomay14/may0907wedeliveryourbrunstrompetition/
5. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/6620471.stm
6. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/5167090.stm

External links

★ North Wales Police

★ North Wales Police Authority

★ North Wales Police Chief Officers' blogs (Chief Constable, Deputy Chief Constable, Assistant Chief Constable)

★ 10 Downing Street petition for removal of Brunstrom in light of use of decapitated motorcyclist picture