The Metropolitan Police Service's Diminutive Museum

On the ground floor of an annex of the Empress Building in Earls Court is one of London’s smallest museums. A single room houses the Metropolitan Police Heritage Centre, which is dedicated to the history of London’s ‘bobbies’ from their formation in 1829 to the present day.

The series of glass cases which you’ll find in the space represent only a tiny fraction of the Metropolitan Police Service’s historical collection of artifacts, which numbers over 15,000 items in all including over 600 uniforms. Artifacts are rotated through the museum from time to time – the displays currently focus on the earliest days of Sir Robert Peel’s police force, the first women to join the Metropolitan Police in 1919 (who wore uniforms supplied by Harrods no less), and the development of forensics. This particular cabinet includes an interesting historical item – an early ‘photo fit’ kit used to help witnesses create a likeness of suspects, which wouldn’t look out of place on the desk of Gene Hunt…

For an organisation with such a rich history it’s a little disappointing that the Metropolitan Police Heritage Centre offers only one room to visitors, but then one of the staff did point out that in the current financial climate they can’t justify the use of resources that would be better spent in support of front-line policing.

That being said, with a bit of lateral thinking there is a way that a more substantial portion of the collection could be put on public display. Bow Street Police Station and the adjoining Magistrate’s Court were sold in 2008, but at present they are in the hands of the receivers following the collapse of a project to convert the complex of buildings into a boutique hotel. Given a lick of fresh paint, and with the support of retired police officers acting as volunteers, they could utilise this site as a museum space until some other use is found for it. Given Bow Street’s historical significance as the first home of London’s police force it would be a fitting home for a Metropolitan Police museum, if only on a temporary basis…