Kent Past
The History of Kent
Copyright Kent Past 2010
Finally a County Police Force
Although Robert Peel started the Metropolitan Police in 1829, it required three acts of parliament over nearly 30 years, before the Kent County Constabulary was formed, with uniformed officers on the streets.
Robert Peel first attempted to form a police force in Ireland, where he was Chief
Secretary, between 1812 and 1818, but found deep seated opposition in England. Many
could not reconcile a police force with that of a free country, while others such
as the Prime Minister Lord Liverpool felt it was 'not English'. The resultant Peace
Preservation Force that he established in, 1814 was a compromise between a full centralised
constabulary and the continued use of the military, as policemen.
Following the Peterloo
Massacre, near Manchester, in 1819, concerns were raised for London, and with the
success of the Irish Force, Peel was appointed Home Secretary in 1822. Within months
of Peel's appointment, he had formed a House of Commons, sub-
Refusing to serve under George Canning, who replaced
Lord Liverpool as Prime Minister in 1827, Peel resigned his cabinet post. He stayed
out of office until the Duke of Wellington became PM in January 1828 when he returned
as Home Secretary and Leader of the House of Commons.
In 1826, recession had gripped the country, with businesses needing to reduce working
hours and wages to survive. Riots and a crimewave spread throughout the land, and
with no police force, the military had to be used. Peel again set up a committee
to look into the crimewave sweeping London and this time it recommended that a law
enforcement agency should be formed for London, with the exclusion of the City of
London. The new force would be responsible to the Home Secretary.
In 1829 the Metropolitan Police Act was passed and by 29 September of the same year,
the first uniformed police constables, colloquially known as 'Peelers', were on the
street. Peel has been credited with writing the following nine principles of policing.
It is disputed whether he actually wrote them down, but he certainly referred to
them in his speeches.
1. The basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent
crime and disorder.
2. The ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon public approval of their actions.
3. Police must secure the willing co-
4. The degree of co-
5. Police seek and preserve public favour not by catering to public opinion but by constantly demonstrating absolute impartial service to the law.
6. Police use physical force to the extent necessary to secure observance of the law or to restore order only when the exercise of persuasion, advice and warning is found to be insufficient.
7. Police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives
reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are
the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-
8. Police should always direct their action strictly towards their functions and never appear to usurp the powers of the judiciary.
9. The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with it.
Robert Peel wanted the public conception of the police to be a civilian force rather
than that of a militia. The uniform was of a civilian design, blue in colour, with
a top hat, which differentiated them from the red of the army. The only weapon carried
was a truncheon concealed in a pocket in the coat tails. Police also carried a rattle
to summon help and a pair of handcuffs. Apart from the term 'Sergeant', no other
military rank was used.
Following the success of the Metropolitan Police, the Municipal
Corporation Act was passed in 1835, which required all boroughs to form a police
force. The take up rate in Kent was slow, not least because the full cost had to
be paid locally. Although by 1837, Canterbury, Deal, Dover, Faversham, Folkestone,
Gravesend, Hythe, Maidstone, Ramsgate, Rochester, Sandwich, Tenterden and Tunbridge
Wells, had all formed a real police force.
Before the Act of 1835, it was every citizen's
responsibility, if they saw a crime being committed, to raise a 'hue and cry', and
to help apprehend the criminal when the alarm was raised. Some towns employed watchman
who patrolled after dark arresting vagrants and calming drunks, anyone suspicious
would be reported. Canterbury charged an additional rate to cover the cost. In rural
areas, a voluntary borsholder or constable would be responsible for arresting vagrants,
bringing offenders before the magistrate and overseeing the punishment. Every year
the officer was changed, although not everyone would accept the job.
Policing in
the Metropolis, boroughs and towns quickly proved its worth, and the Government wanted
it spread to rural areas. In 1839 the Rural Constabulary Act was passed, giving the
power to the magistrates to form a police force for rural areas. The burden of cost
would however, come out of the county rates. Such a force was proposed for Kent,
but defeated by just one vote.
In 1842, the Magistrates had a police force under
their control, by making use of the Parish Constables Act, the cost for which fell
to the parishes whose responsibility it was to provide the constables, many of whom
were volunteers. A Superintendent for each petty session division was selected, and
paid for out of the county rate.
Finally, in 1856 the County and Borough Act ensured
that all counties formed a police force, with a quarter of the cost being paid by
the government. The borough police forces were unaffected and continued as before.
The county had no option this time and the Kent County Constabulary was formed on
14 January 1857, although it would be another four months, before the force, of 222
men, was sworn in.
The new force was split into 12 divisions with the superintendents
being transferred from the old parish system. They were issued with a horse and a
two-
It had taken 28 years for a police force to reach all parts of Kent, from when Peel first established the 'Peelers' in the Metropolis. It was more than forty years since Robert Peel, when, as Chief Secretary for Ireland had a dream of a real uniformed police force.
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