Police Service Records

[Astoness]

morning paul...i totally understand your frustration about the lack of access we have to the police museum which i think is run on a voluntary basis...for years now myself and other members have expressed a desire to visit the museum but as you say due to it being closed most of the time this has been impossibe to do...as far as i know it has no funding or backing from bcc...when i read that steve has a link to the museum i would like to ask him if he can let us know what the current situation is with regards to it having a curator and when it is open because as you quite rightly say this is an important part of our birmingham history and we are being denied access to it...what we need is a couple of dedicated ex policeman to run it for us..

lyn

 

[paul stacey]

Thanks Lyn, of course I don't mean any disrespect, to anyone and especially the volunteers who give up their free time, but it was time the appropriate authorities took control and digitised these records and put them on line, for easy access, I really do say, enough is enough, and this game of nonsense has gone on long enough. Regards Paul

 

[Astoness]

thats ok paul i know you meant no disrespect but it is very frustrating for us history buffs when we can not gain access to not just the police records and the museum but also other records that are out of our reach...i am hoping that when steve reads our posts he maybe able to fill us in about the current position of the police museum...

lyn

 

[terryb18]

We went a few months ago after I saw there was an open day when I read it on Facebook. The day in question was a Thursday so me and the wife took a ride out there. Not only did it appear to be closed but the police station was shut also. There was'nt any notices up anywhere. A disgrace.

 

[Phil]

I'm not all that sure but I don't think Sparkhill Police Station is actually closed, it's just another one of those stations that is closed to the public and has no front desk where the public can be dealt with. I think if you want to be face to face with a human being to discuss a matter then you have to take yourself down to Edward Rd station in Balsall Heath.

The museum only opens very infrequently on open days or by special arrangement for viewing, but don't ask me where you ring to make arrangement as that seems to be an official secret.

 

[Astonian]

Terry
The nick is closed to the public it as been like that for a very long time now at least six months to my knowledge
Its is only operationional to the force and for the use of prisoners whom may been Arrested
For holding and Awaiting for transporting to the central lock ups at steel house lane
They do this round up to every police station they do about an afternoon around five and seven,
then they do another from 10 pm through the night then they will go up befor the courts at ten the next morning
on the subject of the museum there i beleive is a police officier still involved whom as access to the museum
and records of the nick up there is some where at one time but i thought some of our mods on here knew of him
but i may had edward road islosed to the public front desk it would be belgrave road as been the central office
for most of the partof the city of birmingham
on my last record of traveling pass the museum the doors of which arte around the side road i may pont out i once vistited
afew back now very intresting indeed but hasant to say when passing afew months back
on the museum doors plastered all over it stated itssome kind of asian comunity servies and advice
and the museum doors was closed it gave the imression its not operational any more
surely central should give you information if you ring but there is a pblic enquireie in the directory for the council house whom have all these numbers
when i never knew about this number until some one told me and i also got the planing office numbe and where itwas situated check the phone directory for b,city council house number and there services they are very helpful
all the best Astonian ,, Alan ,,,,,

 

[Astoness]

Hello all. The Police museum is still there and staffed by volunteers. It had probably 3-4 open days last year both on weekends and lastly on a weekday in the school holidays. Later this year it will hopefully have an external website up and running which will make it easier to contact. The Police records are still held at the museum to answer a question above and well worth a visit on open days.

just bringing this post of steves from 3 weeks ago to the top folks...thanks for the info steve until the web site is up and running would you be able to keep us informed please of any open days planned for the museum...thank you

lyn

 

[Steve R]

Hello Lyn

I will gets some updates and put them on in the near future. If I can ask for the users patience in the meantime please, it really isn't as straight forward as one would think.

Steve R

 

[Astoness]

hi steve i think that all of our members can appreciate that things are not easy to run especially on a voluntary basis but to have a museum such as this only opening about 4 times a year is really not good enough especially when it comes to gaining access to the police records which are very important to those researching their family history...maybe lodging the records with the library of birmingham may give us better and more frequent access...

like many i have travelled all over the country over the years and everywhere i go are these litte museums for various things such as maritime..police..roman....ww1 etc and all open at least 5 days a week...considering that birmingham is the 2nd city very little back up is given from the powers that be to assist/help/fund in keeping the history of this city alive...not your fault that their sole intention is to destroy it but would appreciate any updates you can let us have with firm opening dates (even once a month would be better than the current situation) regarding the police museum as i have been hoping for some time now to set up a forum members trip to it but found it difficult to arrange due to lack of information...

thanks steve good to have you as a member..

lyn

 

[paul stacey]

Right again Lyn, I feel that what is needed is to be told how these records are held, instead of keeping it a state secret, "Microfisch, data base, or are we left with a scenario of some one who occasionally goes in to manually look through hundreds of cards manually??, if so, this is unacceptable in this 21st century. Secondly surely it isn't beyond human intuition to designate someone to reply to,(must be many), requests of relatives to at least acknowledge their request, instead of ignoring them I think this is where the controversy lies. Paul

 

[mikejee]

If there is so little resource available, I would think they are almost certainly still on some form of paper system

 

[paul stacey]

After standing in a bank queue for some 25 minuets, whilst the bank teller counted out bags of various coins,and then weighed them, and packets and packets of notes, would not surprise me at all Mike.Paul

 

[Phil]

I would think that any information held by the police other than stuff covered by the data protection act should be available under the freedom of information act. I would advise contacting Lloyd House (Is it open again yet?) and ask for the information required and don't be put off by excuses.

 

[Astoness]

closing this thread for a while folks for moderation discussion

 

[Alberta]

Can I just add my thoughts about this subject, firstly if anything is run by volunteers in their spare time we should not be critical of them.

My Dad was a copper in the from 1947 to 1977 and then worked as civvy in the force, his record was exemplary the chief constable wrote to tell me this when he died.Others though did not have such records and as things were very different in those days some things on their records would not make good reading, not just work related but family related because in those days every aspect of your life was joined to the force.your marriage certificate was checked so you could not 'live in sin' and my Dad was told to stop my mom from working as it was demeaning to the force that a man could not provide for his family, she didn't, LOL

Dad had a colleague whose young son was arrested and punished for theft, the PC was told by his superiors that he should keep his children in order and the sons misdemeanor would go on the PCs record, also if an officer had an illegitimate child that he paid maintainance for it would go on his record.
These officers now deceased have children still living.

Maintaining a good outward appearance seems to have been the aim at all times and many more things are possibly on officers records apart from work related.

Although I would like to see my Dads record and would be willing to prove my connection to him to do so, I don't really see why it should be the right of anyone to see them, after all he wasn't in the Armed forces, he was in an Emergency service like the Firemen and Ambulance personnel and we wouldn't presume we could see their records.

 

[Astoness]

thanks alberta...can i just add that steve has already told us that the museum is hoping to have an external website set up asap making contact easier and he has also said that if we would like to arrange a private forum meet up at the museum that can also be arranged so thanks for that steve...we have our summer meet up in a couple of weeks time so after that maybe we can arrange a meet up a the museum..will talk to you about that soon...

lyn

 

[paul stacey]

These records should be the property of the relatives of those ex-serving police officers, the relatives should be treated with respect, the Birmingham force seems to think it is a law unto itself, other forces seem to return the information very quickly, "Oxford City Police " 24 hours, the relatives requiring this information should always be treated with respect, and that means acknowledging their requests and giving at least a time scale when they are going to receive the information, not by ignoring them. The system is very obviously broken, and needs an official restructuring, with a new system to help all those who are researching their family's, which is now a huge popular industry. Whatever the organisation there is never a reason for hindrance, or rudeness. Paul

 

[Astoness]

hi folks i have now read all of the posts on this thread and think enough has been posted about the difficulties experienced in the past of obtaining police service records...i am now going to lock his thread for the time being and open up a new one just for the police museum so that steve can use it for updating us as to when the new website will be up and running and to inform us of upcoming open days so that the public can visit

thanks folks but we must move on now and hope that the museum will soon have a brighter future..

lyn

 

[scrump]

Does anyone know if there are records of people who have served in the Birmingham Police force ?
I had an uncle who I believed was in the force and wanted to find out a little more about him.
Quite a long time ago I must admit, but if anybody out there has any information of how I can find out.............??