A history of crime: Take a look inside Thames Valley Police Museum in Sulhamstead

We dived into the treasure trove of artefacts at Thames Valley Police Museum.

The museum, housed within the 18th-century ‘White House’ at the Police Training College in Sulhamstead, opened in 1987.

It contains more than 160 years of history from Thames Valley Police and the five police constabularies which merged to form it: Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxford City, Oxfordshire and Reading Borough.

From Victorian serial killers to technological innovations, there are plenty of original items, uniforms and medals for visitors to peruse, mostly donated by retired officers.

“That’s how it grew. And since then, it’s grown even more,” said retired copper and museum volunteer Ken Wells.

Ken started in the Metropolitan Police before transferring to the Berkshire Constabulary, as it was then known.

Speaking about the range of exhibits on display, he said: “The most interesting thing that we’ve got in the museum without a doubt, which made world news, is the Great Train Robbery [of 1963].”

This section boasts the original mugshot of Ronnie Biggs, who masterminded and carried out the infamous robbery, plus the original Monopoly board his criminal gang played while in hiding.

But also impressive are the innovations in communications, forensics and transport on show.

“I suppose the greatest advancement is in communications,” Ken went on.

“When I joined up as a beat officer, the only protection I had was a whistle and a truncheon. Now we’ve got radios.”

Speaking about the early radios used, he added: “One of them you received on and the other one you spoke on.”

“It was a great advancement but, unfortunately, the area it covered would only be about five miles, which was quite restrictive,” he said while standing beside an original communications desk used to dispatch and communicate with officers across the Thames Valley.

Another fascinating development portrayed is in crime scene investigating – an area close to Ken, who spent most of his career as a forensic expert collecting evidence from crime scenes.

Before fingerprinting, evidence had to be photographed using specialist cameras, he explained.

But once DNA fingerprinting entered policing in the mid-1980s pioneered by British geneticist Alec Jeffreys, this simplified the process by enabling the lifting of fingerprints from crimes scenes.

Watch Ken’s full demonstration in the video below – with the same kit he used as a serving officer.

After decades in the force, Ken now finds himself the custodian of exhibits featuring crimes he helped investigate.

“You do remember some of the things,” he said. One case Ken worked on was the Hungerford Tragedy of 1987.

“I actually did attend the scene which started off in the Savernake Forest,” Ken continued.

“I then went to Swindon Hospital where two of the deceased had been taken.

“The next day, I was involved in scenes and a lot of the vehicles which were fired on came here in a hardstanding and we did forensic examinations on that.

“As it petered down, I was retained for a further five weeks to collate all of the forensic evidence that we got from the scenes.”

The museum is currently only open on Wednesdays between 10am and noon.

Entry is free and no booking is required.

Museum guests are encouraged to take their smartphone and headphones to benefit from the full interactive experience.

Private visits, for a suggested donation of £3, are also available on request.

Contact TVPMuseum@thamesvalley.police.uk to make a private booking.

Talks and tours are also given by the volunteers, many retired local police officers like Ken.

Visit https://shorturl.at/gbdT0 to book a talk with a museum volunteer within the Thames Valley.