South Yorkshire Police

South Yorkshire Police
Abbreviation	SYP
Motto	Justice with courage
Agency overview
Formed	1974; 50 years ago (1974)
Preceding agencies	Sheffield and Rotherham Constabulary Parts of West Yorkshire Constabulary – Barnsley Borough Police and Doncaster Borough Police
Annual budget	£251 million (2012–13)
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction	South Yorkshire, England
Map of South Yorkshire Police's jurisdiction
Size	1,554 square kilometres (600 sq mi)
Population	1.28 million
Governing body	Home Office
Constituting instrument	Police Act 1996
General nature	Local civilian police
Operational structure
Overseen by	His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services Independent Office for Police Conduct
Headquarters	Sheffield
Sworn members	2,710 (As of August 2013)
Unsworn members	2,218 (As of August 2013)
Mayor responsible	Oliver Coppard
Agency executives	Lauren Poultney, Chief constable Tim Forber, Temporary deputy chief constable Dave Hartley, Assistant chief constable Sarah Poolman, Acting assistant chief constable
Districts	4 Barnsley Doncaster Rotherham Sheffield
Facilities
Stations	24
Custody Suites	3
Vehicle Fleets	500 +
Dogs	15
Horses	9
Website
www.southyorks.police.uk

South Yorkshire Police (SYP) is the territorial police force responsible for policing South Yorkshire in England. The force is led by Chief Constable Lauren Poultney. Oversight is conducted by Mayor Oliver Coppard.

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (August 2023)

The force was formed in 1974, as a merger of the previous Sheffield and Rotherham Constabulary along with part of the West Yorkshire Constabulary area (which Barnsley Borough Police and Doncaster Borough Police had been merged into on 1 October 1968).

The force's roads policing unit and its helicopter, Sierra Yankee 99, have been a feature in three television series: Traffic Cops, Sky Cops and Police Interceptors. The helicopter unit was subsequently taken over by the National Police Air Service (NPAS), and closed down.

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.

The list below shows sworn police officers who have died whilst on duty:^[7]

The force has received national attention for the unlawful killing of over 90 people in the Hillsborough Disaster,^[8][9] and the failure to investigate of child sex abuse in the Rotherham scandal in the 2000s.^[10][11]

During the 1984 miners' strike, officers from South Yorkshire attacked striking miners then arrested 95 on the charge of rioting. It was found the Police Force had fabricated evidence, carried out false arrest and assaulted miners. No police officer has ever been disciplined or accepted responsibility for their actions.^[12] Ex officer Tony Munday has called for an inquiry into how South Yorkshire Police handled the aftermath of the Battle of Orgreave claiming he was told what to put in his statement "by a senior South Yorkshire detective" after he arrested a miner during the Orgreave confrontation. "I've never before or since, while I've been a police officer, been involved where effectively chunks of a statement were dictated. They weren't my words."^[13]

The force was condemned by Prime Minister David Cameron in September 2012 for their dishonesty and gross negligence in their handling of the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, which led to an apology from the then Chief Constable David Crompton.^[14] The Hillsborough Independent Panel had exposed the way in which the force had attempted to divert blame from their own mishandling of the tragedy by feeding false information to the media and altering statements given by their own officers. In June 2013, UK newspaper The Guardian reported on emails sent by Crompton in which he had suggested that the families of fans killed at the Hillsborough disaster had been untruthful. In one, Crompton had written: "One thing is certain – the Hillsborough Campaign for Justice will be doing their version … in fact their version of certain events has become 'the truth' even though it isn't!! I just have the feeling that the media 'machine' favours the families and not us, so we need to be a bit more innovative in our response to have a fighting chance otherwise we will just be roadkill."^[15]

On 27 April 2016, it was reported that the force's Chief Constable David Crompton was to be suspended following statements made by South Yorkshire Police after the verdict of the jury in the second Hillsborough disaster inquest.^[16] He was temporarily replaced by Deputy Chief Constable Dawn Copley, but the following day it was announced that she herself would be stepping down "in the interests of the force and the workforce" after an investigation into her conduct whilst serving as Assistant Chief Constable at Greater Manchester Police was reported.^[17]

The force's judgement has been called into question over a number of incidents in the Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal, where prosecutions were not undertaken.^[18]

In January 2020, the Independent Office for Police Conduct found that South Yorkshire Police had taken insufficient action to protect from harm a child, who had been sexually abused and exploited by Asian men for several years from 2003 onwards. An unnamed chief inspector had told the investigation that the force had been aware of similar abuse for 30 years but had ignored it for fear of increasing racial tensions.^[19][20] In July 2020 the Independent Office of Police Conduct again considered the force's response in relation to the death of Amy-Leanne Stringfellow.^[21]

In May 2016, it was reported that two serving police officers, a pilot serving with the National Police Air Service and two retired police officers who crewed the South Yorkshire Police helicopter were to stand trial accused of misusing the camera on the SY Police helicopter to film people who were naked or having sex. Four of the men denied charges of misconduct in a public office and were due to stand trial at Sheffield Crown Court on 17 July 2017. A fifth man did not appear at the hearing.^[22][23] All of the men apart from the fifth were found not guilty of any offence by a jury – he had previously admitted four charges of misconduct in a public office.^[24]

The police force covers an area of approximately 600 square miles (1,554 square kilometres) which is made up of the county's three boroughs (Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham) along with the City of Sheffield. The resident population is 1.2 million.

The force is divided into four basic command units (BCUs):

Force headquarters is at Carbrook House, in Tinsley, Sheffield, following a move from Snig Hill police station in early 2013. This move saw the senior command team and other services (such as firearms licensing) move into one location, funded by the sale of outdated buildings, including West Bar police station, and the future sale of vacated properties.^[25]

South Yorkshire Police is one of a number of police forces in the United Kingdom to merge its vehicle maintenance operations with their area fire service, merging maintenance operations with the South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service in June 2018.^[26] Joint maintenance operations are based at a workshop in Rotherham, which opened in late 2020.^[27]

The chief constable since May 2021 is Lauren Poultney.^[6] She replaced Stephen Watson, who left South Yorkshire Police to take over as chief constable of Greater Manchester Police.^[28] Watson replaced Dawn Copley, the former deputy chief constable, who stood down a day after assuming the acting chief constable post due to 'her conduct at a previous force being investigated'.^[29] Copley assumed the post after David Crompton was suspended regarding comments made about the Hillsborough disaster.^[30]

South Yorkshire Police is governed by the Mayor of South Yorkshire. The incumbent mayor is Oliver Coppard, who was re-elected in 2024.^[31] The mayor is overseen by the police and crime panel.

Before November 2012, police governance was undertaken by the South Yorkshire Police Authority, made up of elected councillors from the four metropolitan boroughs. In that month it was transferred to the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner and then the PCC's responsibilities were merged into the mayor's role in May 2024.^[32]

• List of law enforcement agencies in the United Kingdom, Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories
• Law enforcement in the United Kingdom

Wikimedia Commons has media related to South Yorkshire Police.

• Official website
• South Yorkshire Police at HMICFRS
• South Yorkshire Safer Neighbourhood Teams
• Guardian article; links between Hillsborough and Orgreave