| Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary | |
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| Coverage | |
|---|---|
 Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary area |
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| Area | Dumfries and Galloway |
| Size | 6,426 km² |
| Population | 148,000 |
| Operations | |
| Formed | 1948 (merger) |
| HQ | Dumfries |
| Budget | {{{budget}}} |
| Officers | 508 + 106 Special Constables |
| Divisions | 2 |
| Stations | 19 |
| Chief Constable | Patrick Shearer QPM |
| Website | Force web site |
Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary is the police service for the council area of Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland. It is the smallest Police Force in the United Kingdom.
The police force was formed in 1948 as an amalgamation of the previous police forces for Dumfriesshire, the Stewarty of Kirkcudbright and Wigtownshire, and preceded the creation of the former Dumfries and Galloway Regional Council by 27 years. [1]
The current Chief Constable is Patrick Shearer QPM. Shearer was appointed on 24 April 2007, in succession to his predecessor David Strang who was made Chief Constable of Lothian and Borders Police. The current Deputy Chief Constable is George Graham, who took over from Robert Ovens QPM in December 2005.
Lockerbie Bombing
On December 21, 1988, the wreckage of Pan Am Flight 103 crashed in the town of Lockerbie, within the Force area of Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary. This was as a result of a terrorist bomb. In the UK the event is referred to as the "Lockerbie disaster", the "Lockerbie bombing", or simply "Lockerbie". Eleven townspeople were killed in Sherwood Crescent, where the plane's wings and fuel tanks plummeted in a fiery explosion, leaving a huge crater. The 270 fatalities (259 on the plane, 11 in Lockerbie) were citizens of 21 nations.
The subsequent police investigation, led by Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary was the largest ever mounted in Scottish history and became a murder inquiry when evidence of a bomb was found. Two men accused of being Libyan intelligence agents were eventually charged in 1991 with planting the bomb. It took a further nine years to bring the accused to trial. Abdelbaset ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was jailed for life in January 2001 following the 84-day Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial under Scottish law, at Camp Zeist, Netherlands.
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