A video feature on Chennai’s first police museum that shows the history of our men and women in khaki
483 Pantheon Road in Egmore was a two-storey building that was on the verge of collapse but has now been restored and will be home to the Tamil Nadu Police Museum.
it will host a exhibition store Which marks the passage of the enforcement agency from colonial India to a technologically advanced force.
The 14-acre structure and its outlying grounds were purchased for Rs 21,000 and became the headquarters of Lieutenant-Colonel John Carney Boulderson, Madras’s first police commissioner, in 1856.
Over time, the beauty of the building was lost in temporary partitions, in order to accommodate an expanding force.
Today, it stands shielded from the road by trees.
Doric columns hold a grand portico where a blue Plymouth Belvedere, once the car in which police commissioners and chiefs traveled to work, stands.
Beyond the single armed sentry is a parade of vehicles that mark the evolution of beat constables, dispatchers and coastal security personnel to be used as a means of transport.
The first high ceiling hall with wooden beams displays the historical cases dealt with by the Chennai Police.
Mannequins wear a Sam Brown belt and Sola toupee and various feather uniforms, while a bandsaw is surrounded by musical instruments.
The adjoining gallery houses rare temple sculptures recovered by the Idol Wing.
A battery of guns – from the old faithful 303 to the Bren light-machine – share the space with Winchester and 12 bore bullets.
The halls of this establishment embody the story of the police personnel of Chennai, showing the Indian Police Service in all its glory can take you back in time.
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