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New South Wales Police Force

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Background

The New South Wales Police is the primary law enforcement agency in the State of New South Wales, Australia. It has existed in various forms since the foundation of the colony of New South Wales at Sydney in 1788, when Governor Captain Arthur Phillip authorised the formation of a nightwatch to protect the infant town against thieves and petty criminals after dark. Ironically enough, this first police force was formed out of the ranks of convicts who then dominated the penal colony (albeit relatively trustworthy and docile convicts).

The NSW Police in its current form was established in 1862. Its current Commissioner is Ken Moroney. The Cabinet Minister of the State Government responsible for the policing portfolio is John Watkins.

Like all other States of Australia, municipalities and shires in NSW have no or very limited law enforcement responsibilities. The Australian Federal Police is relatively unobtrusive and is not very visible in the day to day lives of New South Welsh residents. Therefore, state police forces - the NSW Police included - are much more powerful and ubiquitous than equivalent state or provincial police forces in other federal nations such as the United States or Canada, where the total law enforcement task is more evenly shared among three or four tiers of government.

This concentration of policing power in the NSW Police is thought to have led to the multi-generational and endemic levels of corruption, graft and vice that were revealed to the public in the 1990s at the Wood Royal Commission, a State-sponsored judicial inquiry into police corruption led by Justice James Wood of the New South Wales Supreme Court. This Royal Commission which lasted approximately two years uncovered many crimes and institutionalised corruption throughout the NSW Police Service (as it was then known), but also illuminated the existence of paedophilia and serious moral and criminal vices practiced or condoned by some officers. This unexpected discovery by the Royal Commission led to a widening of its terms of reference to include the investigation of paedophilia and sex crimes outside the Police Service.

The biggest impact of the Wood Royal Commission was the uprooting of many corrupt officers in the force (which, despite the almost daily revelations of depravity and criminality, consisted of only a small minority of the total Police Service) and the establishment of the Police Integrity Commission - an independent, permanent tribunal with some judicial powers that now stands as a permanent watchdog over police corruption, but is not part of the NSW Police (unlike the old Internal Affairs Bureau).

The NSW Police currently consists of 14,000 officers, with a growing percentage being female and/or of an ethnic minority; all are issued with firearms as a matter of routine. Current policing policy favours community liaison in contrast to confrontation, however, much social tension still unfortunately exists between marginalized groups such as Aborigines, Middle Easterners and low-income groups on one hand, and the NSW Police on the other.

The NSW Police motto is Culpam Poena Premit Comes - "Punishment Follows Guilt Swiftly". Its coat-of-arms features the state badge of New South Wales, a soaring eagle carrying a scroll with the word Nemesis, a wreath and the Crown of the British monarch.



Police Commissioners

It should be noted that the term Inspector General was used until 1930.























Significant events since the formation of the New South Wales Police in 1862

  • 1862. In this year the New South Wales Police Force is created by the amalgamation of all existing forces into one organisation. The new force, brought about by the Police Regulation Act 1862, is controlled by Inspector General John McLerie. Sub-districts are created across the State, and these are controlled by Police Inspectors. Police are now being issued with .36 calibre Colt Navy revolvers. Until this time they had only been issued with various single-shot weapons, which were most unsatisfactory.


  • 1871. All Police have their wages reduced by sixpence per day. As a result, many leave the Force.


  • 1872. Since 1862, 70 new Police Stations have been established and there are about 803 men in the Police Force. Australian Police begin photographing prisoners.





  • 1893. Police are using bicycles in Sydney and some country areas.


  • 1894. Sydney Police are now issued with firearms for general use.


  • 1900. E.R. Henry refines Vucetich's system of fingerprint identification by dividing print patterns.


  • 1903. The Police Fingerprint Branch is established.



  • 1913. Telephones are being introduced into country Police Stations, vastly improving communications.


  • 1915. James Mitchell is appointed Inspector General of Police. The Police Prosecuting Branch is established. The first Police patrol car is brought into use in the state. Lillian Armfield and Maude Rhodes are appointed as the first Policewomen in the state.


  • 1916. Significant uniform changes occur and a new style of cap and tunic is introduced. Police motor cycles are introduced.



  • 1924. New South Wales Police begin using wireless telegraphy.


  • 1925. The Public Safety Bureau (traffic unit) is established.


  • 1927. The Drug Squad and the Police Motor Vehicle Branch are established.



  • 1930. Walter Henry Childs becomes Commissioner of Police. The Missing Friends Bureau is formed (renamed the Missing Persons Bureau in 1974). The Bogus Agents & Company Squad is formed (renamed the Fraud Squad in 1961). The Modus Operandi Unit and Police Motor Squad are formed.


  • 1934. The first New South Wales Police Wireless Room is established.



  • 1937. The Police Radio Telephone System is established.


  • 1938. The Police Scientific Investigation Branch is established.


  • 1941. The Police Prosecuting Branch is formalised and expanded. The Central Fingerprint Bureau of Australia is established.



  • 1946. New South Wales Police have further uniform changes. Open-necked tunics with ties are introduced. The Police Aviation Section is established.


  • 1947. The School Lecturing Section is formed.



  • 1950. The Police Aviation Section is disbanded. It re-emerged as the Police Air Wing in 1979.



  • 1953. The Police Flood Rescue Squad is established.


  • 1958. The New South Wales Police Driver Training School at St Ives is opened.


  • 1961. The New South Wales Police have more uniform changes. Tunics become optional dress in summer. There would be no more uniform changes until 1972. There are now 5,717 men and women in the New South Wales Police Force. 1,700 of these are serving in country areas.


  • 1962. The year of the Centenary of the New South Wales Police Force. There are 507 Police Stations in New South Wales. Norman Thomas Allan becomes Commissioner of Police.



Police who have died whilst on duty



























































































































































































































































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