This page provides you with a bird's-eye-view of policing in Derbyshire. It explains how local police work with partners across the county to make individual neighbourhoods safer places to live, visit and work in. You can also find out about Derbyshire Police Authority who monitors our services and performance.
For the purposes of policing, Derbyshire has three main policing areas, known as divisions. Each division covers one or more local authority areas and is run by a Chief Superintendent, also known as the Divisional Commander|.
Divisions are divided further into a series of policing sections, led by a Section Inspector.
Within each policing section sit smaller units. Traditionally these smaller units were called beats. This terminology has changed though to reflect the Government commitment that every community now has a neighbourhood team.
Instead of beats, you will come across the term Safer Neighbourhoods| in Derbyshire. Safer Neighbourhoods is about police and partners working with the public to identify and deal with issues of concern in your neighbourhood. So, in addition to regular police officers, police community support officers and special constables, you will often receive support from council workers, local health authorities and local residents, for example.
Your local police service is already complemented by a range of departments and units within Derbyshire Constabulary. The Contact Management Centre|, for example, deals with all non-emergency calls from members of the public who call to report crimes and incidents and general enquiries. There is an incident control rooms| who handle all 999 calls, manage incidents, allocate resources and deploy police officers throughout the county. We have a roads policing section, a dog section and share our Helicopter Support Unit| with Nottinghamshire Police. We have teams who work in criminal justice and crime investigation. Our scientific support officers also play a vital role visiting scenes of crime, working with fingerprints or DNA, for example, and providing a variety of photographic services and techniques.
The work of Derbyshire Constabulary is overseen by an independent body called Derbyshire Police Authority. The Authority supports monitors and evaluates our performance. It also helps maintain professional standards, sets the annual budget and appoints certain members of Derbyshire Constabulary's executive team, including the Chief Constable. The Authority comprises 17 members: seven county councillors, two city councillors, and eight independent members. For further information, please visit the Derbyshire Police Authority website|.