Short style Sussex detective's truncheon c1960s/1970s
Entry/Object ID
618
Description
Short plain wooden lighter weight truncheon 11 inches (28 cm) long. With multi turned handle and newer leather stitched wrist strap. Maker's name "Hiatt" stamped on the strap.
Use
For use by a police officer as protection
Context
Not all short patterned truncheons were for use by female officers and many pre date the issuing of truncheons to them in the 1970s and 1980s.
This particular truncheon is more slender than those issued to female officers in Sussex in the 1980s and is of a similar style to small hardwood truncheons produced from the early 20th century for use by detectives working in plain clothes and some more senior uniformed officers. Being of a shorter length than the standard size (15 inch) version, they were easier to carry and conceal in normal pockets. The earlier versions were made of exotic dark hardwoods and this example, being made of a lighter weight less dense wood probably dates to the 1960s/1970s. The strap appears to be a new replacement and this truncheon may have be re-issued later to a female officer. Certainly by the 1980s in Sussex it was not common for detectives to regularly carry truncheons.
