The Crime Museum is a collection of criminal memorabilia kept at New Scotland Yard, headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service in London, England. Known as the Black Museum until the early 21st century, the museum came into existence at Scotland Yard sometime in 1874, arising out of the collection of prisoners' property gathered as a result of the Forfeiture Act 1870 and intended as an aid to the police in their study of crime and criminals. Initially unofficial, it had become an official if private museum by 1875, with a police inspector and a police constable assigned to official duty there. Not open to the public, it was used as a teaching collection for police recruits and was only ever accessible by those involved in legal matters, royals and other VIPs.
The Crime Museum in its former home at New Scotland Yard, 8–10 Broadway (now demolished)
Neville Heath. Hanged for murder in 1946.
Scotland Yard is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had its main public entrance on the Westminster street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became the public entrance, and over time "Scotland Yard" came to be used not only as the common name of the headquarters building, but also as a metonym for the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) itself and police officers, especially detectives, who serve in it. The New York Times wrote in 1964 that, just as Wall Street gave its name to New York's financial district, Scotland Yard became the name for police activity in London.
The iconic sign outside the New Scotland Yard building on Victoria Embankment, City of Westminster. The sign came to prominence when it was first located outside an earlier Scotland Yard building.
The "New" Scotland Yard (built 1890 and 1906), now called the Norman Shaw Buildings; at the far right is the Curtis Green Building (white), which became New Scotland Yard in November 2016
The former New Scotland Yard building in Victoria Street
The current site of New Scotland Yard, formerly the Curtis Green Building