Name/Title
Collection of 22 Brighton Borough Police pocket notebooks issued to PC then PS Hother 1958-1968Entry/Object ID
2364Description
Collection of 22 blue coloured, top bound, Brighton Borough Police pocket note books, 160mm x 100mm, all issued to PC 100/PS 47 Hother, the majority of which are numbered, beginning with "1". Each with lined and numbered pages and having a label affixed to front marked "County Borough of Brighton Police Official Note book". Collectively these cover the period 29th December 1958 to 25th January 1964 and from 11th February 1965 until 20th February 1968, and contain dated and timed hand-written entries in ink.( The period 26th January 1964 to 11th February 1965 is covered by items 2363)Use
For an officer to record their duties and any relevant information, including evidence and visits by supervisorsContext
Since the 19th century police officers have been issued with pocket notebooks to record anything relevant during their periods of duty, and they would often be referred to when an officer gave evidence at court. Generally the use of these notebooks has not changed significantly over the last 100 years and there are strict guidelines concerning their use. In the past as now, they are signed out to officers and date stamped. Each page is numbered to prevent removal and officers are instructed to note leave spaces, so that entries can be backdated. The time an officer begins his duty and finishes, together with any breaks should be recorded and any entry should be timed. Often notebooks would have leather notebook covers.
These particular notebooks were used by PC Herbert Hother during the period 29th December 1958 until 20th February 1968, (the later ones covering his period as a sergeant), with the exception of a period between January 1964 and February 1965, which are covered by another set of 6 books (items 2363). They record his daily duties during that period and include evidence of incidents he attended including such things as stops of motor vehicles, driver's details etc. Many of the entries from the 1960s, specifically relate to driving matters, which may indicate PC Hother was a member of the Brighton Police Traffic Dept. It is known that in 1961 he passed an Advanced Police Driving course (see item 2378), which would have be necessary to become a traffic officer. The museum has a number of other notebooks used by PC Hother (items 2366) dating from the beginning of his service in 1950. It is a little unusual for officers to have retained their pocket books, as normally they were returned when a new one was issued and filed at the relevant police station. It is not known how he came to retain these and other notebooks, but collectively they appear to cover his entire service with Brighton Borough Police. There is a contrast between the content of the notebooks from constable to sergeant, as those as a supervisor include a record meetings with officers on their "beats", recording the beat numbers, the officer's number and the time and place of the meeting, whereas those as a constable record his individual activities throughout the period of duty.
The notebooks from his time as a constable show his personal number as 100 and those from his time as a sergeant 47. The difference is because in the past it was common for police forces to use different sets of numbers for different ranks. In Brighton in 1967 the sergeants in the force were given the numbers 37 to 103. So on promotion from constable a sergeant would be given a new number and their old constable's number given to a new recruit.
This style of Brighton Borough Police notebook, replaced a totally different one that was used until 1958. This earlier style was yellow coloured, stapled together and had the spine at the side (see items 2366).
Notebooks are still issued in Sussex Police. However officers are encouraged to use mobile devices more to record their activities, and in some police forces pocket notebooks have been withdrawn altogether.