Bristol City Constabulary, also called Bristol City Police, was a police force responsible for policing the city of Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

 in south-west England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 until 1974, when it was amalgamated under the Local Government Act 1972

Local Government Act 1972

The Local Government Act 1972 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974....

 with Somerset and Bath Constabulary

Somerset and Bath Constabulary

Somerset and Bath Constabulary was a short-lived police force in England from 1967 to 1974. It was created as a merger of the Somerset Constabulary and Bath City Police and covered the administrative county of Somerset and the county borough of Bath...

 and parts of the Gloucestershire Constabulary

Gloucestershire Constabulary

Gloucestershire Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing the non-metropolitan county of Gloucestershire in England...

 to form the Avon and Somerset Constabulary

Avon and Somerset Constabulary

Avon & Somerset Constabulary is the territorial police force in England responsible for policing the non-metropolitan county of Somerset, the city & county of Bristol and the unitary authorities of South Gloucestershire, North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset; before 1996 these districts...

.

Unlike most city forces, the force was officially a constabulary

Constabulary

Constabulary may have several definitions.*A civil, non-paramilitary force consisting of police officers called constables. This is the usual definition in Britain, in which all county police forces once bore the title...

, the usual name given to county forces, since Bristol was a county as well as a city.