In May 1816, a food riot in Bideford made news in Parliament. The Home Secretary at the time, Lord Sidmouth, decided swift and immediate action was needed to apprehend the offenders and arranged for the dispatch of a senior "Bow Street Runner" called Stafford. By August, Stafford had arrested five men, including the ringleader, and condemned them to prison sentences ranging from six months to two years.

Towns like Bideford could not rely on the reactive services of men from London. The parish constables, ordinary men elected once per year at Easter, were often unenthusiastic and ineffective. Thus, come the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, the authorities in Bideford were delighted to be empowered to employ the services of a paid Policeman for the Borough.

On 28th January 1836 (the first sitting of the newly appointed Corporation), the business of forming a police force was discussed. An office, to be called the "Police Office of the Borough" or "Watch House", was to be established and was to occupy the space where the Borough fire engines were kept beneath the Guildhall at a cost of £55 to convert.ⁱ Despite the proactivity of the Borough Council, it took several months for a Policeman to be appointed.

On 29th July 1836, a letter was sent to the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Richard Mayne, enquiring as to the services of a Police Officer for Bideford. A response from Commissioner Mayne was swiftly received:

Satisfied with Mayne's recommendation, Elias Palmer was directed to attend Bideford as soon as possible and his appointment as Head Constable was ratified on 22nd August, with the condition that he be provided with a lantern and staff at a cost of 14 shillings. His salary was approved as per Mayne's suggestion and ten pounds per year was allocated for lodgings. Moreover, the Corporation graciously decided to pay for Palmer's travel expenses from London to Bideford.ⁱⁱ Joining him was his wife Elizabeth and their young daughter Catherine and they lived together in the police lodgings

Palmer was an active and enthusiastic Police Officer and went about his duties with zeal. His activities were popularly reported on in the press, notably the North Devon Journal, which covered all manner of escapades including the arrest of drunks, thieves, hawkers, and vagrants.

Palmer was the only paid Constable in the Borough, although was occasionally assisted by unpaid parish constables. Another source of assistance came from the Bideford Association for the Protection of Property, a private insurance company. By 1844, Palmer had been so successful in stamping out the Borough's nuisances that there was sometimes very little for him to do. This prompted the Council to review his salary, and from November of that year his wages went from £78 per year to £55.

This seems to have taken the wind out of Palmer's sails and over the next couple of years he appears to have become quite disillusioned with the Bideford authorities. On Regatta Day 1846, Palmer's wife was violently assaulted on the Quay by a man named John Johnson. The case was dismissed by the magistrates as an instance of "happy drunkenness" on the offender's part. Later, councillor Arthur Ley accused Head Constable Palmer of acting outside of his authority by refusing bail to a prisoner without consulting the magistrates. Historian Peter Christie, writing for the Devonshire Association in 1986, speculated that the prisoner in question was Johnson and that Palmer was doing his best to make things difficult for him.

On 4th September 1846, Palmer's services were dispensed with, and he was replaced by ex-soldier Dennis Sullivan. Not long after Palmer's departure, discrepancies were found in the Borough gas fund, which Palmer was deputised to collect as one of many extraneous duties. It appears that Palmer was pocketing coin and by the time the embezzlement was discovered, Palmer had left the country altogether and appears never to have set foot in Bideford again.

There is often a belief that 19th century Policemen were not forensically minded. Far from it. In February 1850, Head Constable Sullivan was engaged in an arson investigation on land at Kenwith Farm in the parish of Northam. Footprints were discovered at the scene where many hundreds of pounds worth of unthreshed wheat had been destroyed by fire. Acting on information provided by the parish constable of Abbotsham, Sullivan proceeded to the home of 55-year-old Edward Smith. Sullivan examined Smith's shoes, which were drying near an open fire, and found the nails and toe plates to match the impressions found at the crime scene. He also remarked "...there was not such a long foot in the parish".^{iii iv}

In February 1847, Sullivan oversaw the rescue effort of several passengers from the Bideford Omnibus which careened out of control and plummeted into the water at Bideford Quay. Many hours were spent hauling the carriage to dry land with grappling irons, after which the terrible task of retrieving the bodies of eight men, women, and children who had drowned in the catastrophe was undertaken. As the bodies were removed one-by-one, an onlooker's morbid fascination, influenced in part by drink, led to him falling from the quay to his death.

James Tyrell succeeded Dennis Sullivan as Chief of police in 1853. Tyrell was given additional powers in February 1854, along with Police Constable William Vanstone, to inspect nuisances at the Borough's common lodging houses. Tyrell departed c1856 and was replaced by Robert Chipman who in turn was replaced by Robert William Gifford the following year. Gifford had previously served as the Chief Constable of Devonport Borough Police. Gifford left in 1858 to take up the Chief Constableship of Cardiff Borough Police. Policeman Vanstone, who had served under Tyrell, Chipman, and Gifford, was elevated into the top Police Office at Bideford upon Gifford's departure.

Vanstone was known for his kindly nature and the respect with which he treated even those who deserved the public's contempt. In 1864, his kindness was exploited by a man he was sent to arrest for falling into arrears in relation to a filiation order. The man, named Norton, asked whether he could first his supper before being taken into custody, which Vanstone approved of. After finishing his meal, he asked whether he could wash his face which, again, Vanstone thought a perfectly reasonable request. Unfortunately, Norton had no intention of submitting to the law and fled via the back door. Superintendent Vanstone was known to detest foul language, and whenever the need arose to express high emotion, he would exclaim instead such moderate curses as "Dang the fellow!"

In 1862, the Bideford Borough Police Force consisted of one Superintendent, one Sergeant, and eight Constables. At a meeting of the Town Council held on 13th March of that year, it was noted that, for reasons unknown, one of the Constables was earning an extra shilling a week more than the others. At the same meeting, the minutiae of the cost of furnishing Superintendent Vanstone with a new suit of uniform was discussed quite pedantically. It seems the Town Council were unwilling to go all out for Vanstone when men such as the town crier wore far more affordable clothing!

Vanstone was succeeded in the 1870s by Superintendent Cole. Cole resigned in 1877 and took office with Salford City Police, leaving the Police Watch Committee to deliberate on the employment of five extra Constables on top of the existing three. Cole was regarded as a man of good standing and received many tributes and well-wishes on his departure. It came as a shock to all when news reached Bideford of Cole's dismissal and imprisonment for embezzlement in 1879. His successor was one of the former Chief Constables, Robert Chipman, who served out his second term until around 1884 when he was succeeded by David Morgan, formerly a Police Inspector at Swansea Borough Police.

Under the superintendence of David Morgan, the size and reputation of the Force improved significantly, and the Police of the Borough were the envy of the region. During an 1884 sitting of the petty sessions court in Bideford, a complaint was read from the residents of the parishes of Abbotsham, Appledore, and Northam, which jurisdictions of the Devon Constabulary, that the high efficiency of the Bideford Borough Police tended to force certain miscreants over the border into their parishes. Being served only by a handful of County Policemen, the three parishes suffered greatly.

The Force's fate was sealed in 1889 when the terms of the Local Government Act 1888 removed the right of Bideford Borough Police to exist (as the population of the town fell below the required 10,000 to maintain a municipal police force). The incumbent Superintendent, David Morgan, was offered a job with the Devon Constabulary which he accepted, on the condition he suffered no pecuniary disadvantage. It was Morgan's intention to remain in Bideford, however, at the request of the Chief Constable of the Devon Constabulary, he was relocated to Honiton in the rank of Inspector on a Superintendent's pay. He departed Bideford in May 1889.

Morgan later transferred to Totnes where, as with his previous appointments, he enjoyed the respect of his colleagues and the public. Towards the end of 1893, Morgan contracted tuberculosis. He continued to work, however on 29th December he could no longer perform adequately. He died in his lodgings at Totnes Police Station on 1st January 1894.