The go-ahead has been given for a new police museum in Northern Ireland. The British government is providing £5.5 million to build the museum on the grounds of PSNI headquarters at Knock in east Belfast, close to the police memorial garden.
The museum will replace the current one, which is housed in one small room at Knock. Hundreds of artefacts are kept in storage.
The new museum will tell the story of policing across the island of Ireland, from the foundation of formal uniformed policing in 1814 to the present day.
It will showcase the large collection of artefacts of policing which has been assembled over the years. These include uniforms, medals and documents from all aspects of policing.
It will complement a similar display established at Dublin Castle by An Garda Síochána a number of years ago.
An important feature of the exhibition at the new museum will be the oral history project, which is recording the experiences of hundreds of former members of the RUC.
