Police box

A police box is a telephone kiosk or callbox for use by members of the police. Police boxes pre-date the era of modern telecommunications; today, every police officer (in developed countries) is likely to carry a two-way radio. The typical police box contained a telephone linked directly to the local police station allowing officers "on the beat" to keep in contact with the station, reporting anything unusual, requesting help if necessary or even to detain prisoners until a vehicle could be sent to transport them to the station or to jail. This was in the day when most police officers walked a beat or rode a bicycle rather than used a police car. An electric light on top of the box would flash to alert a beat officer that he was requested to contact the station. Members of the public could also use the phone (which was on the exterior) to contact a police station in an emergency.

External links

• Metropolitan Police - History of the police box
• The TARDIS Library - A guide to the various props used over the years, and their relationship to real police boxes
• The Police Box page - from Ian McPherson's Kiosk Korner
• The Police Signal Box: A 100 Year History - 1994 paper by Robert W. Stewart (PDF format)