Museum of Policing in Devon and Cornwall

	Okehampton Police Station
Established	2016
Location	Okehampton Police Station, Okehampton, England
Coordinates	50°44′23″N 3°59′44″W / 50.7397°N 3.9956°W
Type	Police Museum
Collections	Uniforms; Equipment; Photographs; Archives;
Website	www.dcpolicingmuseum.co.uk
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The Museum of Policing in Devon and Cornwall (MOPIDAC) is a registered charity that collects, preserves and celebrates the history of policing in Devon and Cornwall.^[1]^[2]^[3] The museum possesses a comprehensive collection of artefacts and archives that relate to Devon and Cornwall Police and its antecedent forces that include the Devon County Constabulary and Cornwall County Constabulary and date back to the earliest days of policing. The archives contain many records relating to police officers who served and is of particular interest to genealogists.^[1]

Active collecting of police material in the Devon and Cornwall area began in the 1970s. Police Constable Brian Estill was concerned that there was no heritage policy within the force. Estill saved items from skips, and worked to establish a formal heritage collection.

The museum's collection of objects are stored at Okehampton Police Station while the archive materials are located at the Devon Heritage Centre. Although the collection at Okehampton is not open to the public, public access is provided through a mini-museum located within Tavistock's Court Gate building.^[1]^[4]

Gallery

Devonport Borough Police Register. Police Force, Devonport, 1862-1914
Bound volume of "Police Gazette"
Police Patrol Bicycle
Reproduction of old photograph of policemen with bicycles. Seventeen Cornish police officers of various ranks with their bikes in, 1913
'Sentinel' magazine issue 4.88 (04.12.1988) which gives an overview of the Devon and Cornwall Police

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "What we do". Museum of Policing in Devon and Cornwall. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
^ Simpson, Zhara (5 March 2024). "Police museum opens to the public in Devon". BBC News. Archived from the original on 1 September 2024. Retrieved 1 September 2024.
^ Stephenson, Alison (18 February 2024). "New museum celebrating years of police history". Plymouth Herald. Retrieved 1 September 2024.
^ "Mini Museum opens in Tavistock to celebrate policing history in Devon and Cornwall" (Press release). Devon and Cornwall Police. 11 March 2024. Archived from the original on 12 August 2024. Retrieved 18 July 2024.