THE boys in blue have turned the air blue this week with a furious exchange between the leaders of the Durham and Cleveland constabularies concerning the future of their forces.

So vivid was the exchange that it spilled into the public arena - even though "the preservation of public tranquillity" was one of the primary objects of "peace officers" when they were created in 1829.

Until that date, Britain had a haphazard collection of constables, armed with staffs, running round raising a hue and a cry.

Home Secretary Robert Peel changed all that by creating first the Metropolitan Police and then rolling the idea out across the country. Durham City and Gateshead in 1836 were the first urban areas to have their own forces followed by Sunderland (1837) and South Shields (1839).

Then came the 1839 County Police Act which recommended that there should be one constable for every 1,000 people. Durham was one of the first counties to react - although it thought it could penny-pinch and have one constable per 2,000.

On December 10, 1839, the first Chief Constable of Durham, Major James Wemyss, took up his post. He was paid £250 a year, plus £100 to cover expenses, and he had five inspectors and 75 constables. The inspectors were on £1 8s a week; the PCs 18 shillings a week - although both had to pay one shilling a week for their uniform.

These first boys in blue - blue tailed coat, thick trousers, black boots and reinforced top hat - first stepped out onto the streets of County Durham on February 29, 1840. They had four divisional headquarters: Chester-le-Street, Darlington, Easington and Stockton.

But they were not popular. In some places, reported Maj Weymss, "the police were welcomed with showers of stones". Indeed, in 1842, more than 6,400 people living in 172 of the county's 240 townships signed a petition demanding that the new police be dismantled. Many of these signatories were landowners or ratepayers, suggesting that they were protesting about the cost of keeping the peace.

Middlesbrough formed its own force in 1853 and it was even more unpopular. Like many of Durham's new pit villages, the population included a large proportion of immigrants, many Irish. In 1864, a policeman was prevented from making an arrest as the suspect - Patrick Evans - beat him up and a crowd of 600 prevented the bobby from making it to the safety of the station.

In Durham, there was a further problem: facial hair. At first, only sideburns were allowed, but by 1863 the fashion had changed and moustaches were accepted. But there was to be no under-lip or chin hair and whiskers could not conceal an officer's number on his collar.

Gradually, law and order triumphed - over the population, if not the razor. During the 20th century, the county structure soaked up the smaller city forces - until 1968, when it was decided that Durham was too big. It was split up, Teesside Police created to its south-east and Northumbria stealing its northern territory.

Thirty years after those changes were enacted, the wheel is turning once more. This week's blue exchanges confirm that Durham, Cleveland and Northumbria are now considered too small to survive and will, in some way, be amalgamated.

This will not mean the end of the 165-year-old county structure because a review in a decade or two's time is bound to conclude that the forces have grown too big and unwieldy...

Published: 15/10/2005