Sheffield's Police Box

Many visitors to Sheffield, particularly Doctor Who fans, can hardly fail to notice the green police box near the city’s Town Hall. Police boxes, designed to increase efficiency by giving police constables facilities away from the police station and preventing the necessity to return to base a number of times during their beat, were introduced in Britain in the 1920s. Chief Constable Frederick James Crawley installed them initially in Sunderland in 1923 and then in Newcastle upon Tyne after he became Chief Constable there in 1925. Sheffield followed in 1928. The Metropolitan Police Force began a widespread installation of police boxes in London from 1930.

In Sheffield, there used to be 120 boxes. Chief Constable Percy Sillitoe introduced them in October 1928 before being appointed as Chief Constable of Glasgow in 1931 where he set up a police box system. He later received a knighthood and became Director General of M15.

The Sheffield bo