Glasgow Police Museum

Twelve good men and true headed into Glasgow for a visit to the Glasgow Police Museum. We followed those blokes 😉

We took the train into Glasgow so, after a walk through the town following Raymond (he said he knew a route that would be quieter than just wandering along Argyll Street) and then, after he took us the wrong way and was for heading off in the wrong direction, someone spotted it. Ask a policeman for directions? Yeah, right! 😀👮

We were welcomed by the curator Alistair Dismor who was Raymond's sergeant when he joined  the force back in the dark ages (some time in the 1970s). Alistair gave us a very interesting tour of the exhibits and told us the entertaining background stories to some of them.

The museum isn't a big place but it's stuffed with exhibits on the history of Britain's oldest police force starting back from their first tentative attempts at forming in 1779 up to the modern day. 

In 1788, the force they envisaged was 40 years before Sir Robert Peel established preventative policing in the Metropolitan area of London in 1829. In February, 1789 this force of truly professional police officers took to the streets but it wasn't until the Glasgow Police Act of 1800 received Royal Assent that they really got going.

There's lots to see - how the uniforms have changed since they began, the tools of the trade (batons, police boxes, whistles, even guns), a series of boards detailing the history along with sample cases and crimes of the times, wanted posters, death warrants and more. There's also a separate room with police uniforms from around the world.

If you're thinking of visiting the museum, then have a look at their web site for more information on opening times, etc.

 https://www.policemuseum.org.uk/