Greater Manchester Police Museum and Archives

The Museum was founded in 1981. Funded by Greater Manchester Police, it not only collects and preserves archive material and objects relating to the history of policing in the Greater Manchester area, but acts as an important resource for community engagement, where visitors can talk to staff and volunteers about policing.

We have various exhibits, but some of the most popular are our authentic Victorian Charge Office and Court Room.

The Charge Office was the first port of call for anyone arrested by the Police, here criminals were charged before moving to the cells. This Charge Office is original to Newton Street and was built in 1879.

The 1895 courtroom is a great example of a Magistrate Police Court, originally from Denton Police Station it was moved to the museum in 2004.

Take our Virtual Tour HERE.

Archive

GMP Museum holds primary and secondary source information about the history and development Greater Manchester policing. Our archive holdings are a mix of records – both official and personal.

Our holdings fall into four main categories:-

• Personnel service records for police officers, including personal memorabilia
• Manuals and handbooks relating to police work and administrative records
• Records relating to the governing bodies of police forces prior to 1974
• Registers of Aliens residing in Salford from 1914 to 1969

Workshops

We also offer various workshops, the themes of which change from time to time.

Crime and Punishment Day

The Greater Manchester Police Museum is now pleased to offer a full Crime and Punishment day, working in conjunction with the National Centre for Citizenship and Law.

This full day session explores crime and punishment through time from historical context to contemporary issues and the court system today. Pupils will have a full day exploring and learning about crime at the Police Museum Manchester and at either the Crown Court or Civil Justice Centre (dependent on availability).

An initial introductory session of 1 hour will be delivered in school detailing to pupils the forthcoming visit and an introduction to who’s who in the court room

Students will:

•Learn about the history of crime and law and order through history
•Discuss and debate real historical sentencing options and compare these to sentencing options in the present day
•Be introduced to the Crown Court or the Civil Justice Centre
•Explore roles in a court room
•Discuss and debate reaching a verdict and sentencing options
•Understand the importance of evidence by writing a newspaper report
•Enact a trial based on a real case in a real courtroom

This session links to: Citizenship, History, PSHE and English

Our new exhibition ‘From Bobby to Tommy’ has been put together to commemorate the centenary of the First World War, and celebrate the support and achievements of the Special Constables who took the place of the Police Officers called to war. It will detail who the Specials were and the vital roles they undertook as well as following some of the Officers who were called away to fight.

To coincide with our new WW1 exhibition, GMP Museum is proud to offer a ‘Special’ tour for visiting schools this year. Classes will have the opportunity to ‘be enrolled as a Special’ which will involve being issued with a trilby, badge and arm band and taking part in a short drill before starting the normal tour around the museum. If classes complete their training successfully they will be issued with a ‘warrant card’ to take home.

Classes will learn:

• Who the specials were.
• Why they were vital to the war effort.

Classes will take away:

• A Special Constable sticker badge, based on original badge.
• A warrant card, based on original warrant card.