Police box
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A police box is a public telephone kiosk or callbox for the use of members of the police, or for members of the public to contact the police. It was used in some countries, most widely in the United Kingdom throughout the 20th century from the early 1920s. Unlike an ordinary callbox, its telephone was located behind a hinged door so it could be used from the outside by anyone, and the interior of the box was, in effect, a miniature police station for use by police officers to read and fill in reports, take meal breaks and even temporarily hold detainees until the arrival of transport.
A 1929 Mackenzie Trench design police box preserved at the National Tramway Museum in Crich, Derbyshire. Between 1929 and 1938 approximately 1,000 of these were built, with 685 installed in London.
A slightly modified Mackenzie Trench police box, coloured red, as seen in Glasgow
Dinky Toy police box manufactured in the 1940s by British toy company Meccano Ltd, based on the mk1 design.
Percy Sillitoe
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Sir Percy Joseph Sillitoe KBE DL was a chief constable of several police forces. He changed the role of radios, civilian staff, and women police officers within the police. He was later Director General of MI5, the United Kingdom's internal security service, from 1946 to 1953.
