In the heart of the Merchant City, on the first floor of a grand red sandstone on Bell Street, directly above a traditional Scottish restaurant is a museum dedicated to the history and tales of UK’s first police force. It’s an unassuming attraction, passively resembling an ordinary flat, though distinguishable by a plain sign across its window. Inside, the small museum holds a broad collection of newspaper cutouts, documents and items that tell a local story of crime and justice that has an interesting place in the history books.
Watch our video above to see what we found.
1. Glasgow Police Museum
It is often Sir Robert Peel who is credited with establishing the first force in the Metropolitan area of London in 1829, however, evidence inside the Glasgow Police Museum shows that the concept of ‘preventative policing’ was in place in Glasgow some 40 years earlier with the Glasgow Police Act passed in Parliament in 1800. | Glasgow Police Museum
2. Glasgow Police Museum
When I first arrived at the venue ahead of opening on a brisk Tuesday morning it was this fact that founder Alastair Dinsmor was keen for me to understand. It is here the story starts. The main room of the museum is made up of glass display units presenting the timeline of policing in Glasgow and how it has evolved. | Glasgow Police Museum
3. Glasgow Police Museum
For everyone around today the institution has always been a present part of society influencing our actions, shaping our behaviours, beliefs and moralities. I personally found it fascinating to consider the police as an entity built from nothing, an idea which developed across the decades through trial and error into the system it is today, a system that feels intrinsic to our collective routine. A system that now exists in almost every country in the world. | Glasgow Police Museum
4. Glasgow Police Museum
The information has been thoughtfully curated and presented. You will learn about the role of the police in Glasgow and how this has changed in line with the needs of society, notable cases. There are tools, weapons and uniforms used by officers that date to almost the earliest days of the force. A wholly interesting and worthwhile museum with a quirky side. | Glasgow Police Museum