Formed September, 1863 Population 80,000 | Annual budget £15 million | |
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Legal personality Governmental: Government agency Size 572 square kilometres (221 sq mi) | ||
The Isle of Man Constabulary (Manx: Meoiryn-Shee Ellan Vannin) is the national police service of the Isle of Man, an island of 80,000 inhabitants, situated approximately equidistant from Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England.
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Structures and deployment
The force has about 236 officers in its establishment. As the Isle of Man is not a part of the United Kingdom, the Constabulary is responsible to the Minister of Home Affairs of the Isle of Man Government. Nevertheless, the service volunteers itself for inspection by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) for England and Wales.
The force is split into five neighbourhood policing teams (NPTs). Northern NPT covers the North of the island: Ramsey, Andreas, Bride, Ballaugh, Lezayre, Maughold, Jurby. Western NPT covers Patrick, German, Michael, and Peel. Southern NPT covers the airport, Ballasalla, Castletown, Port St Mary, and Port Erin. Eastern NPT covers Braddan, Laxey, Lonan, and Onchan. Douglas NPT covers the borough of Douglas. Each NPT is controlled by an inspector who has established a partnership with the local community to help solve issues affecting the local area.
A major event for the force is the annual TT races.
The constabulary's headquarters are in Douglas. The present Chief Constable is Gary Roberts.
Uniform
In terms of uniform, the force looks very similar to police in the United Kingdom, apart from the custodian helmets worn by male constables and sergeants. White helmets were introduced in 1960 as a summer alternative to the older black helmets (partly for tourism reasons). White helmets were used as a summer option in other police forces (including Brighton, Southend-on-Sea and Swansea Borough Police forces; Peterborough City Police; the Metropolitan Police's band; and the New Zealand Police), but this practice ceased in the UK in 1969 and in New Zealand in the 1990s. The white helmet is now worn year round by officers on foot patrol. Officers on mobile patrol tend to wear peaked caps.
Officers of the rank of sergeant and above may carry a "signalling stick" when on foot patrol. This is in effect an additional rank indicator. Until very recently constables "acting up" in the rank of sergeant were referred to as "carrying the stick". If the "acting" was only short term, the stick was often the only indicator of their additional responsibilities.
Social media presence
The Isle of Man Constabulary have started to use social media, predominantly Twitter: for example the Dog Section has been updating their followers on the latest litter of puppies and general goings on of the dog unit. (https://twitter.com/IOMPoliceDogs)
Scandals
During the tenure of Mike Culverhouse, the force was involved in many scandals, including the Manx Bugging Scandal, and almost all senior officers except the Chief Constable were either suspended, retired or dismissed.
Rank structure
The rank structure of the Isle of Man Constabulary follows the practice of United Kingdom county (as opposed to metropolitan) territorial police forces, except that there are no ranks of chief superintendent or assistant chief constable. There are usually one superintendent and three chief inspectors, who take responsibility, respectively, for local neighbourhood policing, island-wide policing, and motorsport policing. The last of these largely covers the TT races and associated motorsports activities.