Welcome to my website. This is a site for people interested in collecting police memorabilia in general, but Irish or German Police artifacts in particular. It’s basically a list of my own collection that I’ve put together to try and keep track of what I have.
When I started I really didn’t think too much about what I was doing, but over time just adding bits to the site has made it disjointed and the pages too long. For this reason I am (slowly I admit) editing all the main section pages and adding sub-pages where appropriate. The theory is that site is easier to navigate, quicker to load and more enjoyable to use. In practice it’s immensely frustrating given my lack of tech knowledge, so some of the sub-pages don’t display and I only have a finite amount of time to try and work out why this is.
This website is a hobby for me and it will probably always be a ‘work in progress’ as I periodically get bursts of enthusiasm and update it. I appreciate the comments that I receive on it and, should you offer me some advice or a correction, please don’t be put off by the fact that I may not act on it for quite a while. Assistance and advice is always appreciated, but I may not have the time to act on it expeditiously.
There are 3 main parts to this site – the Irish Police Collection
– the German Police Collection
– Police Station Crest Collection
All three have their sub-themes. The largest and most developed is the Irish Police collection. This is divided into Policing pre 1922 (predominantly the Royal Irish Constabulary) and then the Royal Ulster Constabulary and An Garda Siochana. That said, it’s also my main area of collecting, so it’s always out of date and in need of review.
The Tschako collection covers German Police headress from the period of the late Second Empire (1890s) through the wars and into the creation of the Federal Republic and the DDR. As the smallest part of my collection the content is generally up to date.
Finally, the Station Crest Collection was originally created from the Irish Police collection and centred upon Station Badges of the Royal Irish Constabulary. This then branched out to include other Irish forces, then English and finally Imperial and Commonwealth Police forces. This section of the website is substantially complete, albeit new items are added periodically.
I hope that this website will, in time, make it easier for police enthusiasts to find information and pictures of artifacts and items that they might otherwise not see. I certainly don’t want to put myself out as any kind of expert and I’m not going to offer the history of policing on the main pages – other people and other sites have done that better than I could.
My aim here is to share what has become a long-standing passion and give people access to some of my collection in the hope that they find it interesting and perhaps even spark a question or two. This is also a way for me to keep in touch with my collection as it’s easier to see online than in real life, if only for reasons of space. Not everything on this site is in my collection, but I do generally try and make this clear. If you feel that you have something that might fit with my collection, please feel free to get in touch using the contact form.
If you’ve visited this website before then you know it is a (slow) work in progress, but please stick with it. I hope that every time you visit you will find something new and interesting to make you want to come back.
About Me
I have been interested in policing a long time and particularly British / Irish and German police. I’m a member of several police history and memorabilia societies and studied policing at university. That said, I’ve never been a practictioner. My interest has always been academic: theoretical, political and historical.
That said, this site is not designed to make political statements of any kind. My police collection likely has elements within it that some people won’t like. By displayingly them, I am not showing support for or endorsing any political view. Artifacts are there because they existed, and form part of the course of history. This should not be erased or ignored and fills what would otherwise be an unexplained void.
In putting these pages together I have tried to be as accurate as possible and as honest as I can be in where I sourced my material. Websites and other research will be cited and material attributed where possible. Where an author has asserted their copyright I will only refer to their site with a link. In the same way I assert my Intellectual Property. No-one should copy anything from this site without referring to its origin and authorship (including back to the original author where applicable) but any material may otherwise be copied and used for non-commercial purposes.
As far as obtaining new items for my collection, much is sourced from friends and contacts in Ireland and the UK, but eBay remains a valuable source as are the specialist auction houses in GB, Dublin and Belfast. Occasionally I will either not know what something is, or have made an honest mistake. I particularly welcome being told I got something wrong – it’s all part of the learning process and helps keep the subject interesting. If you spot something that needs to be corrected, or just want to comment generally, please use the comment box on the ‘contacts’ page or the guestbook. Thanks for visiting.