| Description | Headquarters records including annual reports, minutes, orders issued to police officers, staff records, records of criminals and criminal investigation, licensing registers and other administrative records.
Divisional records including complaint and disciplinary records for police officers and records of criminals and crimes.
Police station records including fines and fees books and diaries.
Records of the borough police forces of Chesterfield, Derby and Glossop, including staff and criminal records.
Records donated by former police officers.
This collection is currently being catalogued. Please contact us if you want to know more about what is in this collection. |
| Administrative History | The County Police Act of 1839 allowed county justices discretionary rights to established police forces. The decision to establish a police force in Derbyshire is recorded in the Quarter Sessions of December 1838, although a flood of petitions against the initiative, mainly on the grounds of cost, led to the project being abandoned. By the mid 1840s, new lock-ups were built at various locations including Ashbourne, Belper, Wirksworth. The advent of industrialisation and railway building brought with it an increasing number of disorderly navvies, leading to the creation of the paid post of the Superintendent Constable, to assist the Parish Constable, and by 1854, the county had eleven Superintendent Constables, but these soon disappeared as the Derbyshire Constabulary was formed.
The Derbyshire Constabulary was formed in March 1857 with a force of 156 officers. Originally controlled by the magistrates of the Quarter Sessions, the Local Government Act 1888 passed control from the Quarter Sessions to the Standing Joint Committee. The Constabulary's Headquarters were originally at Belper Police Station, but by 1859 the headquarters had moved to Derby. It was temporarily located in St. James' Terrace before finally moving to St. Mary's Gate. Barracks were formed in various areas of the county until 1892. Establishing the Force does not appear to have been an easy task; early lapses in discipline and lawlessness within the ranks saw Divisional Superintendents issued with cutlasses, the intention being to pass these onto those working under their command for their own protection.
The municipal boroughs of Derby and Chesterfield had their own borough police forces, and in 1867, Glossop became a municipal borough and established its own police force. In April 1947, however, Glossop Borough Police and Chesterfield Borough Police merged with the Derbyshire Constabulary. The Constabulary's Headquarters moved to Matlock in April 1958. Derby retained a separate police force until April 1967 when it merged with the county constabulary and the force was renamed the Derby County and Borough Constabulary. The headquarters moved to Butterley Hall, Ripley, in December 1970 and the name Derbyshire Constabulary was re-adopted following boundary changes in 1973. By 1981, the Force had grown to 1767 officers. |
| Custodial History | These records were deposited at Derbyshire Record Office at various dates between 1990 and 1994. An accession in 2002 was originally accessioned as D5882, but has now been incorporated into D3376. Further material was transferred from Buxton Museum and Art Gallery in December 2022. |