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This page
primarily gives information about records produced by police forces
and police authorities in Scotland, but for information about records
relating to predecessors of police forces, courts and the criminal
justice system, parliament and central government supervision of
police forces click on one of the entries below:
Predecessors
of police forces
Courts
and the criminal justice system
Parliament
and central government supervision of police forces
Modern police forces
Police forces for Scottish counties, cities
and towns were set up in the nineteenth century. In 1975 most were
abolished when the present eight regional police forces were set
up. Five police forces (Strathclyde, Northern, Grampian, Fife, and
Dumfries and Galloway) have deposited substantial historical records
(including the records of predecessor forces) with local authority
archives but retained certain records themselves. The other three
police forces retain most historical records, although some records
of the Perthshire, Perthshire & Kinross-shire, Perth Burgh, and
Perth & Kinross police forces are held by Perth & Kinross Council
Archives. Lothian & Borders Police have (according to Historical
Manuscripts Commission accessions bulletins) deposited 'files' with
Edinburgh City Archives. The records of Caithness County, Wick Burgh
and Thurso Burgh constabularies are held by the North Highland Archive
in Wick. In general a wider variety of records survive for the larger
forces, especially the city constabularies, while, for some smaller
constabularies, particularly those absorbed by larger forces, little
survives. Police records held by archives tend to come from four
sources: local authority records (county and burgh government),
police HQs, police stations, and from families of former police
personnel.
Types of record which may survive for a constabulary
include:
Minute
books of police authorities (e.g. police commissioners or committees)
Letter
books of Chief Constables and other senior police officials
Annual
Reports of the Chief Constable, statistical returns and other reports
Staff
records
Police
station records
Memoranda/information/circular/scrap
books
Criminal
Registers and photographs of criminals
Licensing
and similar records
Correspondence
files, case files etc
Instruction
books/manuals
Photographs
of policemen and police buildings
Tracing police records
To trace records relating to a particular
police force go to the entry on Tracing
Police Records.
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1.
What sources of information are useful for undergraduate or postgraduate
study of the history of policing in Scotland?
2.
Do police records include records of prisons and prisoners?
3.
Where can I find information about parish constables?
4.
Where should I look for statistics on crime and police activity
for a particular year or years?
5.
Where can I obtain photographs or illustrations of police?
6.
How can I find the service record of an individual policeman or
policewoman?
7. Where should I look for information about a former chief constable
or senior officer of a force?
8.
If I know someone was a policeman or policewoman but not which force
served on, how do I find out which force?
9.
Why might I be unable to trace a service record of a policeman?
Contributors
Iain Gray (Aberdeen City Archives); Christine
Lodge (Highlkand Council Archive); Marion Stewart (Dumfries &
Galloway Council Archives); Steve Connelly (Perth & Kinross
Council Archives); Robin Urquhart (SCAN).
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