thumb|right|A police box outside [[Earl's Court tube station in London, built in 1996 and based on the 1929 Gilbert Mackenzie Trench design]]

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 on the exterior, allowing anyone to use it without needing to enter. The interior could only be opened with a key, and served as a miniature police station in which officers could read or fill out paperwork, take meal breaks, and temporarily hold detainees until the arrival of transport.

A typical British police box contained a telephone linked directly to the local police station, allowing patrolling officers to keep in contact with the station, reporting anything unusual or requesting help if necessary. A light on top of the box would flash to alert an officer that they were requested to contact the station. Police boxes were usually blue, with the most notable exception being Glasgow, where they were red until the late 1960s. The blue police box is associated with the science fiction television programme Doctor Who, in which The Doctor's time machine, a TARDIS, is disguised as a British police box. Crawley was arguably the first proponent (at least in Britain) of the concept of the police box as a miniature police station rather than just a communications point, including unrestricted access to the telephone by the general public for contacting police, ambulance, and fire services. His well-publicised success with these boxes, and the revised policing methods they allowed, soon led to the adoption of similar police box systems in many of the larger cities in the north of England, including Manchester and Sheffield.]]

The Metropolitan Police (Met) introduced police boxes throughout London between 1928 and 1937, and the design that later became the most well-known was created by the Met's own surveyor and architect, Gilbert Mackenzie Trench, in 1929. Between 1929 and 1938 around 1,000 examples of the Mackenzie Trench police box were installed. They measured tall, and wide. Their success resulted in the widespread adoption of the system throughout Greater London over the next eight years using newer models of the Mackenzie Trench design now made completely of concrete for increased durability, save the doors, which were still made of teak. with an additional 72 smaller police posts, also designed by Trench, used in the inner divisions where there was no space for the larger kiosks. At their peak there were 86 scattered around the city. In 2012, Lothian and Borders Police sold a further 22, leaving them owning 20.

thumb|upright=0.8|left|A slightly modified Mackenzie Trench police box, coloured red, as seen in Glasgow

Beginning in 1933, a slightly simplified version of the Met's police box design was also used by the City of Glasgow Police when its old cast-iron police boxes were replaced by an expanded Crawley type of integrated police box system. This was done as part of the restructuring of the force brought about by Percy Sillitoe after he was appointed Chief Constable at the end of 1931. Like the cast-iron boxes before them, the new concrete boxes continued to be painted red until the popularity of Doctor Who prompted a change to blue in the late 1960s. However, owing to the intervention of the Civil Defence & Emergency Service Preservation Trust and the Glasgow Building Preservation Trust, some police boxes were retained and remain today as part of Glasgow's architectural heritage. and another at Grampian Transport Museum. An original MacKenzie Trench box exists outside of the Metropolitan Police College (Peel Centre) at Hendon.

In the City of London, there are eight non-functioning police "call posts" still in place which are Grade II listed buildings. The City of London Police versions were cast iron rectangular posts, as the streets are too narrow for full sized boxes. One compartment contained the telephone and another locked compartment held a first aid kit. Fifty posts were installed in the "Square Mile" from 1907; they were in use until 1988.

On Thursday 18 April 1996, a new police box based on the Mackenzie Trench design was unveiled outside the Earl's Court tube station in London, equipped with CCTV cameras and a telephone to contact police.

Manchester also has Help Points similar to those in Glasgow, which contain a siren that is activated upon the emergency button being pressed; this also causes CCTV cameras nearby to focus on the Help Point.

Liverpool has structures similar to police boxes, known as police Help Points, which are essentially an intercom box with a push button mounted below a CCTV camera on a post with a direct line to the police.

Boscombe in Bournemouth opened its own old-style police box in April 2014 in a bid to tackle crime in the area. The box contains a yellow phone for when it is not staffed by police, along with security cameras and a defibrillator.

In February 2021, the City of London launched a competition to bring a back a new and updated police box to its streets, with the winning entry unveiled in June that year.

In Doctor Who

left|thumb|upright|The TARDIS [[Theatrical property|prop used from 2010 to 2017 seen at BBC Television Centre]]

The BBC science-fiction television series Doctor Who features a time machine, the TARDIS, disguised as a Mackenzie Trench-style police box. As police boxes were phased out in the 1960s and 1970s, over time the image of the blue police box became associated as much with Doctor Who as with the police force. In 1996, the BBC applied for a trademark to use the blue police box design in merchandising associated with Doctor Who. In 1998, relating to the recent (1996) construction of a new Police Box outside of Earl's Court tube station (London) the Metropolitan Police filed an objection to the trademark claim, maintaining that they owned the rights to the police box image.

In 2002, the Patent Office ruled in favour of the BBC, arguing that there was no evidence that the Metropolitan Police—or any other police force—had ever registered the design as a trademark. In addition, the BBC had been selling merchandise based on the image for over three decades without complaint by the police. In 1883, Washington, D.C. installed its own system; Detroit installed police call boxes in 1884, and in 1885, Boston followed suit. in the city

File:EdinburghCoffeeBox.jpg|This police box in Edinburgh now serves as a coffee shop.

File:Old police box, Richmond Lane - geograph.org.uk - 1132688.jpg|This police box in Edinburgh now serves as an art gallery.

File:Edinburgh Police Box - Cowgate, near Pleasance 001.jpg|An Edinburgh police box with graffiti from the 2014 Scottish independence referendum

File:Scarborough Police Box (Large).JPG|A police box on the seafront at Scarborough

File:CoventGardenPoliceBox.jpg|An old police box (no telephone) in Covent Garden, London

File:Police box, London EC3 - geograph.org.uk - 2836010.jpg|A City of London Police telephone pillar on Eastcheap, 1981

File:StMartinsLeGrand-PoliceCallBox.jpg|Police telephone post (not functional) at St. Martin's Le Grand, London — painted (incorrectly) in 'Met' dark blue. 'City' boxes were painted in a light blue.

File:Police Box, Glasgow - DSC06282.JPG|A Mackenzie Trench design police box in Glasgow

File:Sheffield police Box.png|A 1929 police box that stands on Surrey Street, outside Sheffield Town Hall. It is still used as a post for city ambassadors, providing tourist information.

File:Glasgow particular turned hemp dispensary 2017-05-18.jpg|A Glasgow police box (red variation of a Mackenzie Trench) near the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall serving as a hemp dispensary

File:Police Box, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.jpg|A rare brick-built police box in Dewsbury

</gallery>

See also

  • Kōban
  • Somerton TARDIS
  • Red telephone box
  • Sentry box
  • Fire alarm call box
  • Royal Mile police box

References

  • The Rise and Fall of the Police Box, John Bunker (October 2011).
  • From Rattle to Radio, John Bunker (November 1988).
  • .
  • — a guide to the various police box props used in Doctor Who over the years, and their relationship to real police boxes.
  • .
  • — set devoted to tracking down remaining Edinburgh police boxes.
  • — fine art policebox photographic typology.
  • — catalogue of police box models.
  • Police Public Call Box. A guide to see real life Police Boxes around the UK
  • The Police Box Map
  • Police Box locations