The Port of Tilbury Police is a small, specialised police force responsible for policing the Port of Tilbury, owned by the Port of Tilbury London Ltd, a subsidiary of Forth Ports plc. Any serious or major incidents or crimes become the responsibility of the localterritorial police force police force, Essex Police. The port is not a separate police area, and as such Essex Police retain statutory policing responsibility for all of Essex, including the port area, working with the Port of Tilbury Police as and when required.
History
The force was originally formed in 1908 as the Port of London Authority Police upon the foundation of the Port of London Authority the same year and was responsible for policing all of London's commercial docks. These docks had previously been run by five separate private companies and Tilbury, each with its own private police force. Additionally Thames Division of the Metropolitan Police had originally been founded as the Thames River Police to police shipping and the docks. By 1908 the dock companies' private forces had merged into three bodies, the London and India Docks Police, the Surrey Commercial Dock Company Police and the Millwall Dock Company Police - these three were merged to form the Port of London Authority Police. In 1992 the PLA Police was downsized, delimited to just the Port of Tilbury and given its present name - the other docks are now policed by the Metropolitan Police, the City of London Police and Kent Police.
Powers of constables
Port constables are appointed by the port company, and are attested by a justice of the peace. The oath is given by to the Port of London Act 1968. The port company can suspend or terminate the appointment of a port constable. A port constable has all the powers and privileges of his office within the "port police area" and anywhere within one mile of that land. In addition, if a port constable pursues a suspect from the port police area, he has the same powers of arrest as he would in the port police area. Impersonating a port constable is an offence.
Entry
A port constable may enter any vessel within the port police area :
if, with reasonable cause, he suspects that an indictable offence has been, or is about to be, committed on board the vessel, or
in order to arrest a person whom he may lawfully arrest, or
if, with reasonable cause, he believes that by so doing he will be able to facilitate the detection of an indictable offence committed, or the prevention of an indictable offence which he, with reasonable cause, suspects is about to be committed, within the port police area.
A port constable may seize anything found on board which he, with reasonable cause, suspects to have been stolen or otherwise unlawfully obtained.
Entry and search
A port constable may, within the port premises, enter and search a vessel or vehicle if he, with reasonable cause, suspects that he might find anything which has been stolen or otherwise unlawfully obtained:
on or from the port premises, or
on or from a vessel either in a dock of the Port Authority or at a pier provided by the Port Authority.
A port constable may seize anything found on board the vessel or in the vehicle which he with reasonable cause suspects to have been so stolen or obtained unlawfully.
Stop and search
Any constable may, within the port police area, stop and search a person whom he, with reasonable cause, suspects of having or conveying in any manner anything which has been stolen or otherwise unlawfully obtained:
on or from the port premises, or
on or from a vessel either in a dock of the Port Authority or at a pier provided by the Port Authority.
Other provisions
It is an offence to resist, obstruct or impede a constable in the execution of his duty, or to not carry out the lawful orders of a constable. A constable may detain a person who, after being warned by an officer of the Port Authority not to do so, gets on to or remains on a movable bridge belonging to the Port Authority when it is about to be moved, or is being moved, or before it is properly closed and fastened, if that person's name and address is unknown to and cannot be ascertained by the constable.
The Port of Tilbury Police are recognised as a 'specified police force' whom can instigate criminal proceedings under the auspices of the Crown Prosecution Service.
The Police Regulations 2003
The Port of Tilbury Police are the only port constabulary where the length of service of constables is recognised for the purposes of reckonable service should they join a territorial police force or the British Transport Police.
Marine Navigation Act 2013
Port of Tilbury Police Officers are classed as 'Port Constables' by virtue of Section 7 of the Act, which allows a Chief Officer of a territorial police force to grant permission for Port Constables to act within the relevant territorial police area in relation to port police business. As of July 2014, the Port of Tilbury Police had not applied to the Chief Constable of Essex to extend their jurisdiction to that of the police force area of Essex Police in relation to port police business.
