PW_2_2022

Article

Cathedral Bobbies Bill Butcher , Thames Valley Branch

They say you learn something new every day. I pride myself with a reasonable knowledge of police history, indeed I volunteer with the TVP Museum, and I follow the Police History Society on Facebook. S o imagine my surprise, when in August I was walking around Canterbury and came across a PC from the Canterbury Cathedral Constabulary. I never knew such a force existed. The officer was dressed in the same uniform, and carried the same PPE as any Home Office officer. The only difference I noticed was that the squares in his diced band were blue as opposed to black. The young man gave me a brief overview of his force, explaining that his jurisdiction is confined to the area within the Cathedral Close, unless invited outside by the Kent Constabulary. This whet my appetite, so I decided to do a bit of research. A cathedral constable is employed by a cathedral of the Church of England and dates back to the 13th century. There are currently four cathedrals “forces” based at York Minster, Liverpool, Canterbury and Chester Cathedrals. The Parish, in medieval times, was the main unit of local government in England. Every parish was centred on a church, and held responsibility for administering local affairs, including policing. Some Parish Constables covered the area known as The Close, which surrounded many cathedrals. The Close is an enclosed precinct which surrounded buildings associated with the cathedral. These officers were the predecessors of today’s Cathedral Constables. King Edward I (1239-1307) also known as Edward Longshanks, allowed Cathedral Deans to appoint Constables to keep the peace in around Cathedral Precincts. Cathedral Constable appointments are not made under parliamentary legislation, but a combination of Cathedral Norms (Common Law tradition), and the cathedral’s own ecclesiastical legislation known as “statutes”. An Anglican statute forms part of the law of England. All Cathedral Constables have a power of arrest when it comes to people behaving in an anti-social way within the curtilage of their cathedral. This power comes from section 2 of the Ecclesiastical Courts Jurisdiction Act 1860. The Cathedral Police are all trained in the use of the PPE by, of all forces, the Mersey Tunnel Police.

You can find out more on their website www.cathedralconstables.co.uk Also there is an interesting book called Cathedral Bobbies by Br Joseph Hobson

POLICE WORLD Vol 67 No.2, 2022

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