Phoenix Police Museum

All other accompishments - The Phoenix Police Museum, a 501 c3 Corporation, continues to be solely funded by private donors and operates within a small budget. Approximately 1,700 payroll deduction members of the police department and other Phoenix City departments contribute $5.00 per month to finance the museum. We also have approximately 100 additional members consisting of community citizens and retired officers. The museum experienced some changes with another department group moving into Historic City Hall as their new main tenant. As a result, the museum has its own separate facilities integrated in the museum space. The efforts to restore the Historic Jail Elevator continues with general estimates and costs. Funding options and contributions are being sought to complete the project. The musuem has five part time employees and approximately ten volunteers. The Curator position is funded by the City of Phoenix. The Curator is supplemented by one part tiime employee and several volunteers to assist in the museum operations. Gift shop items have been expanded to supplement museum income. The Phoenix Police Museum has served the community as well as the Phoenix Police Department. The museum has provided financial support, as well as staffing, to continue a memorial display project. The project's purpose is to provide signage at street locations where Phoenix Police employees died in the line of duty. The museum helps to coordinate the event and provides travel expenses for out-of-town immediate family members to attend the memorial dedication. In addition, the museum provides for some of the expenses of the signs' placement as well as a small desk top version of the sign for the family. The museum has sent representatives to Washington, DC for the National Law Enforcement Memorial Week. There is memorial room in the museum to those fallen Phoenix Police employees. The education component of the museum continues to grow and is no longer confined to the museum's main location. The museum continues to work on a 1948 Plymouth patrol car restoration project, which is approximately 90 complete. A late model Rambler patrol car is also being added to the museum collection with the assistance of a local car club. The current antique cars are taken to many car show events and law enforcement conferences with museum displays to promote the Phoenix Police Department. An educational experience for children who visit the museum includes wearing police uniform shirts as well as gun safety do's and don'ts. Children are rewarded with an informative safety coloring book and other items supplied by the museum. The museum, although small, still has approximately 9,500 visitors annually and continues to have free admission. No person is prevented from enjoying the museum. It continues to be open Monday through Friday, six hours per day. In this time of budgetary cutbacks and downsizing, the Phoenix Police Museum is one of the last community programs that allows a location in which adults and children can interact with the police in a positive environment. The museum continues to support many other non-profit organizations, such as the 100 Club and National Law Enforcement Museum, The Arizona Historical Society, and others. Copies of newsletters are available on request.