Service - A Film from 1958
In 1958, the Chief Constable of Liverpool City Police, J. W.T Smith directed a film that was made by several of his officers, including a Sergeant and Constable who were cameramen.
Opening credits describe it as made possible by the watch committee chairman Alderman JJ Cleary J.P.
For the joint purposes of attracting new members to a worthwhile career and fostering the interest and co-operation of the public in police work.
The film entitled 'Service', is a valuable and interesting historical record of policing in the city and is one of thousands of artefacts from the Merseyside Police archive.
The original film is on 16mm film and lasts for a total of 15 mins. It has been digitised and edited into bite-size chunks on the force YouTube channel, and shows historical views of Liverpool's waterfront, docks and city centre.
Other interesting excerpts include some of the first women police officers, a demonstration of how early police radios helped officers to get to the scene of incidents and a visit by Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother to Speke.