from the local authorities in the police area. Before November 2012, the force was governed by the Devon and Cornwall Police Authority. Organisation , the force has 3,593 individual police officers, 549 special constables, 320 police community support officers (PCSO), and 2,236 staff. Training for new recruits is held at the Headquarters in Middlemoor. For constables, it consists of eight months training and a two-year probationary period. For special constables it consists of three months of online learning and practical weekends training and a two-year probationary period or less, dependent on the number of tours of duty. For PCSOs, it consists of 18 weeks training and a 15-week probationary period. Recruits receive their warrant card and uniform in the first two months of training. The force is divided into four Basic Command Units (BCU), each commanded by a Chief Superintendent. Geographically larger BCUs are further split into Local Policing Areas (LPAs), under a Superintendent, which are further sub-divided into Sectors, each under an Inspector. The Plymouth and South Devon BCUs only contain one LPA, being divided directly into sectors. Most sectors contain a police station, while in Plymouth there are numerous neighbourhood bases or police stations (Crownhill, Charles Cross, Plympton, Devonport). Each BCU will have several specialist teams, including Patrol, Neighbourhood Policing Teams, a Criminal Investigation Department and various pro-active policing units to target persistent criminals and focus on specific operations. The four BCUs are: Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly BCU East Cornwall geographic LPA West Cornwall geographic LPA South Devon BCU Devon BCU Exeter East and Mid geographic LPA North and West Devon geographic LPA Plymouth BCU Plymouth geographic area Force contact centre The force contact centre is located at two sites: police HQ in Middlemoor, Exeter and Crownhill police station in Plymouth, both operating 24/7. Calls from all parts of the force are assigned to the next available agent, whichever site they are working from. Calls are answered by trained civilian staff, with police officers in some supporting and supervisory roles. Both 999/112 and non-emergency calls are answered by multiskilled staff, with other duties including the Force Switchboard, found property recording, crime recording, requests from other police forces, emails from the public, and the force website. Radio dispatch officers are located in the control rooms at both sites and deploy police officers following calls for service from the contact centre. The two control rooms use the national