Name/Title
East Sussex Constabulary pocket notebook issued to PC 121 Paviour April 1944Entry/Object ID
2543Description
Green card bound side opening notebook, approx. 157mm x 102mm, consisting of pencil handwritten entries on numbered 130 lined pages. Printed to the front "East Sussex Constabulary", and handwritten on first page in ink, "Walter Saviour. PC121 Haywards Heath Hurstpierpoint Hassocks 13th April 1944 (to) 24th May 1944". Numbered "34".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 were signed out to officers and often date stamped. Each page is numbered to prevent removal and officers are instructed to note leave spaces, so that entries cannot 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.
This particular pocket notebook was issued to PC 121 Walter Paviour of East Sussex Constabulary who in 1944 was assigned to the Hurstpierpoint section of the Haywards Heath Division. It was used between 1st January 1939 and 6th April 1939. This style of notebook is in a "book" form with a spine at the side. Often police notebooks fold upwards with a spine at the top.
The print reference of this particular notebook is dated "6/41" and it is clearly of wartime manufacture because there are printed instructions, on the inside of the covers relating to air raids. The notebook is divided into two parts each with the same page layout. The first 76 pages form the "Duty Book" for the officer to record his duties and the pages 77 to 130 form the :Note book" for recording information and statements etc. Until 1974 Haywards Heath was part of East Sussex which is why it was in 1944 it was what had been an East Sussex Constabulary Division. From April 1943 until 1947 all of the police forces in Sussex were merged into the combined "Sussex Police Force", although the pre existing force boundaries were retained for administrative purposes. Some specific "Sussex Police Force" stationary was produced and used, but only after existing stocks of pre April 1943 material was exhausted.
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.