Template:Infobox UK Police Derbyshire Constabulary is the Home Office police force responsible for policing the county of Derbyshire, England.
The force covers an area of over 1,000 square miles with a population of just under one million. To police the county the force is divided into four territorial divisions, based respectively in the towns of Alfreton (A Division), Buxton (B Division), and Chesterfield (C Division), and the city of Derby (D Division). The association of town name to division is coincidental - at one point Derbyshire had several other divisions which have now been pared down to the current four. Its headquarters - and base of the forcewide 'Operations Division', which encompasses the Roads Policing Unit, or 'Traffic Department' - is at a central location. Each territorial division is headed by a Chief Superintendent called the Divisional Commander, and the force is headed by a Chief Constable. The force has 2,095 police officers, 363 special constables and 43 Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs). The Chief Officers of the force work in partnership with the 17 publicly-elected representatives on the Derbyshire Police Authority, which shares responsibility for budgets and policy, and is intended to ensure that the public of Derbyshire have a voice in the policing of their county.
Derbyshire Constabulary polices an area which ranges from remote rural locations to busy city-centre and suburban environments. The more urbanised east and south of the county, including the market town of Chesterfield and the city of Derby, generally require more officers to respond to the needs of the large resident population, while the more rural north and west require the smaller number of officers to be more mobile. Calls for service in the rural areas usually increase during summer as the population is boosted by approximately twenty million visitors each year to the Peak District and its surrounds. Winter weather on the unforgiving high ground around Glossop and Kinder Scout can also cause problems for traffic and residents.
Derbyshire's different environments also lead to different pressures on the police and different concerns for the public. Anti-social behaviour and drug abuse are more prevalent in town and city areas, whereas the rural districts are often prone more to burglaries and vehicle crime. In general, Derbyshire does not suffer a particularly high crime rate in comparison to its neighbouring force areas of Greater Manchester Police with Manchester, South Yorkshire Police including Sheffield and West Midlands Police containing Birmingham, however the proximity of these cities does produce additional problems for the Derbyshire police to deal with, as offenders cross into the county from these areas to commit crime. A recent Home Office report indicated that Derbyshire had the lowest crime levels in the East Midlands region, and the force states that crime rates have fallen in Derbyshire by 15% in the last year.
Proposals were made by the Home Secretary on March 20, 2006 to integrate groups of police forces in England and Wales into 'strategic' forces, which he saw as being more 'fit for purpose' in terms of combating terrorism and organised crime. Under these proposals Derbyshire would have merged with nearby forces to create an 'East Midlands Police'.[1] However, these proposals were unpopular with much of the community and the police, and for the moment have been deferred, leaving the East Midlands forces to continue independently.