Lincolnshire Police is the territorial police force covering the non-metropolitan county of Lincolnshire in the East Midlands of England. Despite the name, the force's area does not include North East Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire, which are covered by Humberside Police instead. In terms of geographic area the force is one of the largest in the England and Wales covering 2,284 square miles. The population of the area covered by the force is 736,700. As of 2010 the force currently employs over 2,500 people. As at May 2016, there were 1,100 police officers, 200 Special Constables and 149 PCSOs. History Lincolnshire Constabulary was formed in 1856 under the County and Borough Police Act 1856. Several other borough police forces used to exist in the county, but these were eventually combined with the Lincolnshire force. Under the Police Act 1946, Boston Borough Police and Grantham Borough Police were merged, while Lincoln City Police and Grimsby Borough Police were absorbed under the Police Act 1964. Lincolnshire lost part of its area to the new Humberside Police in 1974. In 1965, the force had an establishment of 918 officers and an actual strength of 883. Proposals made by the Home Secretary on 20 March 2006 would have seen the force merge with the other four East Midlands forces to form a strategic police force for the entire region. These proposals were ended by John Reid in June 2006. The police authority received £287,600 from the Home Office for costs of preparing the ill-fated merger. In 2008 the Lincolnshire Police Authority experienced a funding crisis. The authority claimed that the central government grant was insufficient to provide efficient policing in Lincolnshire, due to the unfavourable working of the formula used by the government to assess police grants. The authority decided to reduce the shortfall by making a 79% increase in its precept (the portion of Council Tax payable to the Police Authority). The government then announced its intention to "cap" this demand, resulting in a net 26% increase. Chief constables 1856–1901: Captain Philip Bicknell 1901–03: Major Charles Brinkley 1903–31: Captain Cecil Mitchell-Innes, CBE, KPM 1931–34: Colonel Gordon Herbert Ramsay Halland, CIE, OBE 1934–54: Sir Raymond Hatherell Fooks, CBE, KPM 1954–56: Herman Graham Rutherford 1956–69: John William Barnett, OBE 1970–73: George Walter Roberts Terry, QPM 1973–77: Lawrence Byford, QPM 1977–83: James Kerr, QPM 1983–90: Stanley William Crump, QPM 1990–94: Neville Gilbert Ovens, QPM 1994–98: John Peter