The force was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, and was largely a successor to the York and North East Yorkshire Police, also taking part of the old West Riding Constabulary's area. The York and North East Yorkshire Police had covered the North Riding of Yorkshire, the East Riding of Yorkshire and the county borough of York; it was itself formed in 1968 from a merger of the two riding forces with the York City Police. Proposals made by the Home Secretary on 21 March 2006 would have seen the force merge with West Yorkshire Police, South Yorkshire Police and Humberside Police to form a strategic police force for the entire region. However, these proposals were later dropped. It was announced in January 2007 that the then Chief Constable, Della Cannings, would be retiring from the force on 16 May 2007 due to illness. Della Cannings made the headlines on a number of occasions. She was not allowed to purchase wine from Tesco in Northallerton in March 2004 until she had taken off her hat and epaulettes, as it was illegal to sell alcohol to on-duty police officers. In October 2006 it was revealed that more than £28,000 had been spent to refurbish a shower in her office. On 19 April 2007, it was announced that Grahame Maxwell was to become the new Chief Constable of North Yorkshire Police. Grahame Maxwell began his career with Cleveland Police and served in all ranks up to Chief Superintendent when he became District Commander in Middlesbrough. After completing the Strategic Command Course in 2000, he was appointed as an Assistant Chief Constable with West Yorkshire Police and during his four years there served as the ACC Specialist Operations and ACC Territorial Operations. Mr Maxwell was promoted to Deputy Chief Constable with South Yorkshire Police in January 2005 and become the Chief Constable of North Yorkshire Police on 17 May 2007. Dave Jones QPM, was appointed as chief constable in 2013 after serving as Assistant Chief Constable at the Police Service of Northern Ireland, where he had command of the Rural Division. He was awarded the Queen's Police Medal in the 2017 New Year Honours List and retired from the role in 2018. In July 2017, the force's headquarters was moved from Newby Wiske to Alverton Court in Northallerton. The new headquarters is the former offices of the Rural Payments Agency. The previous headquarters at Newby Wiske is a grade II listed building and was becoming difficult to upgrade into the 21st century. The memorial stones commemorating those who have served the police in the region have been moved to the new headquarters from Newby Wiske. These include those who have died in the First and the Second World Wars and also those who have died in the line of duty. In August 2018, it was confirmed that Lisa Winward would become the new chief constable with immediate effect. Winward joined the police in 1993 and has been serving in the North Yorkshire police service since 2008.
Vehicles
Currently, used patrol cars include the Peugeot 308 and Vauxhall Astra. The Ford Kuga is used as a patrol car in some rural areas. The Roads Policing Group use the BMW X5, BMW 330d and BMW 530d. BMW motorcycles are also used by the RPG. Iveco Daily and Ford Transit vans are used for the transportation of detainees and to transport officers on public order duties. The Firearms Support Unit use the BMW X5. The force has a new livery from March 2009, consisting of high visibility panels of yellow and blue on all vehicles, this is known as battenberg.
The Police Memorial Trust lists and commemorates all British police officers killed in the line of duty, and since its establishment in 1984 has erected over 38 memorials to some of those officers. The following officers of North Yorkshire Police are listed by the Trust as having died attempting to prevent, stop or solve a crime, since the turn of the 20th century:
