We have had a whirlwind weekend full of festive cheer, with over 250 guests meeting Santa in our first ever Grotto! Christmas Crafts Families visited Mrs Claus’ workshop to get crafty with Christmas decorations – creating reindeer’s with chocolate noses to hang upon their trees, and mini-trees from those pesky bits of spare wrapping paper! …
Unlocked Stories: Sergeant in slippers
Imagine yourself, readying for the graveyard shift, perhaps enjoying a coffee before you pop your boots on, when through your window you spot something lighting up the sky… Sgt. Keith Charles hadn’t even pulled his boots on when he rushed out his house to tackle a fire blazing on Alum Rock Road that threatened a …
The police forces of the West Midlands have had a number of ‘mascots’ over the year; often encouraging children to be safe and offer them advice. Roger, the safety car, is held in high esteem here at the museum after many years teaching school children across the region about road safety. But do you remember …
Merry Policemas! Christmas Card Competition Winner
Earlier this year our Engagement Officer challenged local schools to create a Christmas card design ready for the festive season. The entries were unique, inspired, and in some cases rather hilarious! Deciding a winner was no easy task – with each staff member selecting their favourites and discussing at length who the overall winner should …
Lifetime Achievement Award: Rani Gundhu QPM
Never give up hope that the world can be a better place, keep focussed and surround yourself with positive souls. For no candle loses it’s light by lighting another candle. It can only get brighter. Rani Gundhu Visitors to our museum may recognise the face of Rani; welcoming guests with an infectious energy and being …
The first Black firearms officer in West Midlands Police. Paul Lee joined West Midlands Police in 1991 after seeing an advert for the police and deciding to go for it. He was 19 years of age and didn’t really have any career ambitions at this point. He was initially posted to Stoney Stanton Road, Coventry, …
Unlocked Stories : Award Winning Mounted Police
In 1840 the first seven horses were added to Birmingham Police and whilst some would be used to escort prisoners or royal visits, they were mostly reserved for ceremonial duties. It wasn’t until Chief Constable Sir Charles Haughton Rafter established the Birmingham City Police Mounted Section in 1923 that horses and their riders became a …
1974 marks the year that West Midlands Police was formed – it’s also the year that Stephen Lawrence was born in south-east London. At 18 Stephen had ambitions to attend university to become an architect, tragically however his life was cut short by an unprovoked racial attack. On 22nd April 1993, Stephen was murdered whilst …
Unlocked Stories: Tackling Forced Marriages
DS Trudy Gittins shared with us her first hand story of tackling the first FMPO case in the West Midlands, and first regarding an adult male in the country. DS Trudi Gittins, with a victim of forced marriage. What is forced marriage? A forced marriage is very different to an arranged marriage. An arranged marriage …
In September 2023 we received an exciting email, stating that we had been shortlisted as a finalist for the West Midlands Tourism awards in the New Tourism Business of the Year category. To be nominated for these prestigious awards is an achievement in its own right; each year businesses, venues, and events across the region …
Midlands Service Excellence Awards: Winners!
The Midlands Service Excellence Awards seek to showcase those who go above and beyond to deliver excellent service and drive positive change within their organisations and communities – well it sounded right up our street! We were thrilled to be shortlisted in multiple categories; New Business of the Year, Training Provider / Educational Establishment of …
On Friday 8th March we joined in the world wide celebrations of International Women’s Day – and what a day! We opened our doors to the public for free, to allow everyone to join in the celebrations and meet the sheroes of West Midlands Police, and hundreds of visitors came to see us! We were …
Unlocked Stories: Memories of Policing as a Woman in the Sixties
Prior to joining the police force, Joyce Taylor (née Cooke) worked in a local post office straight out of school. She joined Walsall Borough Police in the 1960’s. She had always wanted to be a police officer and really liked the distinctive police uniform. On joining she went to Ryton on Dunsmore for 13 weeks …
LGBT+ History Month: When gay police made headlines
It would be remiss to pretend homophobia has not existed historically, both publicly and within the force, and many an officer certainly faced criticism, fear, and abuse for who they were – but here we would like to give no further spotlight to those who held such views in the past, and instead highlight those …
#WeAre50 | Technology: Facial Recognition
Facial recognition technology is no mystery to us in the 21st century – our phones know our faces, airport security is automated by scanning our likeness, and a spy movie isn’t complete without someone holding their eye up to a scanner to gain access somewhere top secret. It seems almost far-fetched to think of a …
