Editing Devon and Cornwall Police (section)

==History==
The force was formed on 1 April 1967, by the amalgamation of the [[Devon and Exeter Police]], [[Cornwall County Constabulary]] and [[Plymouth City Police]]. These three constabularies were in turn amalgamations of 23 city and borough police forces that were absorbed between 1856 and 1947.

Between 1856 and 1947, police in Devon and Cornwall used a number of different names. They were gradually absorbed into two of the existing forces called Devon and Exeter Constabulary and Cornwall County Constabulary, with Plymouth City Police remaining separate. In 1967 these three remaining forces were amalgamated into one called Devon and Cornwall Constabulary or Devon and Cornwall Police.<ref name="thisiscornwall">{{cite web|url=http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/news/Ello-ello-ello-police-force-changes/article-1891244-detail/article.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120912170923/http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/news/Ello-ello-ello-police-force-changes/article-1891244-detail/article.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 September 2012|title=Name change for police force|work=thisiscornwall.co.uk|access-date=30 August 2014}}</ref><ref name="budepeople">{{cite web|url=http://www.budepeople.co.uk/news/Devon-Cornwall-police-force-change/story-4517237-detail/story.html|title=Devon & Cornwall police force to change name|work=budepeople.co.uk|access-date=30 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140904000530/http://www.budepeople.co.uk/news/Devon-Cornwall-police-force-change/story-4517237-detail/story.html|archive-date=4 September 2014|url-status=usurped}}</ref>

The archives and objects that relate to Devon and Cornwall Police and its antecedent forces are now held by the [[Museum of Policing in Devon and Cornwall]].

In July 2023, the [[police and crime commissioner]] (PCC) suspended [[Chief Constable]] [[Will Kerr (police officer) |Will Kerr]] over sexual allegations.<ref name="BBCColwellSuspended" /> While that was being investigated, the PCC appointed Acting Chief Constable Jim Colwell. In November 2024, the PCC suspended the acting chief constable over allegations relating to messages sent on a police-provided mobile phone,<ref name="BBCColwellSuspended" /> and in December appointed the retired chief constable of [[Dorset Police]], James Vaughan, as interim chief constable.<ref name=vaughanicc />

===Chief constables===
{{more citations needed|section|date=February 2021}}
*1967{{ndash}}1973 Colonel [[Ronald Berry Greenwood]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.devon-cornwall.police.uk/your-right-to-information/our-people/our-history/force-areas/devon-cornwall-constabulary-1967-2003/|title=Devon & Cornwall Constabulary (1967–2003)|publisher=Devon & Cornwall Police|access-date=19 June 2018|archive-date=19 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619163326/https://www.devon-cornwall.police.uk/your-right-to-information/our-people/our-history/force-areas/devon-cornwall-constabulary-1967-2003/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
*1973{{ndash}}1982 [[John Alderson (police officer)|John Cottingham Alderson]]
*1982{{ndash}}1984? [[David Albert East]]
*1984?{{ndash}}1989 [[Donald Elliott (police officer)|Donald Elliott]]
*1989{{ndash}}2002 Sir [[John Stanley Evans]] (knighted in [[2000 New Year Honours]])
*2002{{ndash}}2006 [[Maria Wallis]]<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/jul/27/ukcrime.prisonsandprobation|title=Police chief quits after tenure dogged by controversy |date=27 July 2006|work= The Guardian|access-date= 19 June 2018}}</ref>
*2007{{ndash}}2012 [[Stephen Otter]] 
*2013{{ndash}}2022 [[Shaun Sawyer]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.devon-cornwall.police.uk/your-right-to-information/our-people/the-management/the-executive/#chief|title=Chief Constable – Shaun Sawyer|publisher=Devon & Cornwall Police|access-date=19 June 2018|archive-date=24 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024180405/https://www.devon-cornwall.police.uk/your-right-to-information/our-people/the-management/the-executive/#chief|url-status=dead}}</ref>
*2022{{ndash}}2023 [[Will Kerr (police officer)|Will Kerr]]<ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-62988867 | publisher = BBC News | title = Devon and Cornwall Police chief constable formally appointed by panel | date = 21 September 2022 | access-date = 25 November 2022}}</ref> Suspended July 2023.<ref name="kerr-suspend">{{Cite news |date=26 July 2023 |title=Chief Constable Will Kerr suspended over misconduct claims |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-devon-66316756 |access-date=26 July 2023}}</ref>
*2023{{ndash}}2024 Jim Colwell (acting chief constable)<ref name="kerr-suspend"/> Suspended pending investigation from November 2024.<ref name="BBCColwellSuspended">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr4lg21zxr2o|title=Acting police chief suspended over allegations|last=Parkman|first=Chloe|date=28 November 2024|work=BBC News|access-date=28 November 2024}}</ref>
*2024 James Vaughan (interim chief constable)<ref name=vaughanicc >{{cite web |title=New interim Chief Constable announced for Devon and Cornwall |url=https://devonandcornwall-pcc.gov.uk/announcement-by-end-of-week-over-devon-cornwall-police-interim-chief-constable |website=Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner | date=13 December 2024 |access-date=15 December 2024}}</ref>

===Officers killed in the line of duty===
{{See also|List of British police officers killed in the line of duty}}
The [[Police Roll of Honour Trust]] and [[Police Memorial Trust]] list and commemorate all British police officers killed in the line of duty. Since its establishment in 1984, the Police Memorial Trust has erected 50 memorials nationally to some of those officers.

Since 1814, the following officers of Devon and Cornwall Constabulary and its predecessors were killed while attempting to prevent or stop a crime in progress:<ref name="policememorial">{{cite web|url=http://www.policememorial.org.uk/index.php?page=devon-cornwall-constabulary|title=Police Roll of Honour Trust – Devon & Cornwall Constabulary|publisher=policememorial.org.uk|access-date=30 August 2014}}</ref>
* Town Sergeant Joseph Burnett, 1814 (shot attempting to disarm two drunken soldiers)
* PC William Bennett, 1875 (injured arresting a man for assault)
* PC Walter Creech, 1883 (stabbed by a man he warned)
* PC John Tremlett Potter, 1938 (fatally injured by two burglars he disturbed)
* PC Dennis Arthur Smith, 1973 (shot by a suspect he was pursuing)
* PC Christopher Francis Wilson, 1977 (contracted a fatal illness after being spat on during a disturbance at a football match)
* PC Joseph James Childs and PC Martin Ross Reid, 1978 (drowned after their car was swept into the sea during a storm)