Name/Title
Sussex Police female officer's handbag c1987Entry/Object ID
2233Description
Black leather handbag with zip fastening to the top, one internal side compartment and one large zip fastened side pocket. A leather adjustable shoulder strap is attached, with chrome plated slip buckle. The zip is marked "ACE".Use
For a female officer to use to carry their equipment and paperwork.Context
Handbags were first introduced in Sussex Constabulary in August 1968 at the same time the force adopted its first summer dress for female officers. These bags were intended to be used all year around for female officers to carry their notebooks, radios and any other items in. At that time, before the introduction of sex equality legislation, it was not common practice for female officers to be issued with truncheons, so they would not necessarily have been carried in the handbags. There is some debate as to exactly when all Sussex female officers were issued with truncheons, but it is likely to only have been routine after 1975, when all Sussex Police female officers took on exactly the same duties as their male colleagues. After that date small truncheons were also regularly carried in handbags and at Gatwick Airport, they were also used by female firearm's officers to carry handguns until suitable pockets were eventually created in their uniform skirts.
The first style of handbags used in Sussex were very similar to this with a large zip fastening side pocket. Only later was a type of bag issued with external purpose made pockets for handcuffs and a radio. However in the late 1980s a simpler version such as the one pictured, with just a zipped side pocket was re-adopted. This particular bag was issued to WPS BT155 Myra Thomas in the late 1980s when she returned to uniform at Brighton from CID, upon promotion. When she joined Sussex Police in May 1979, she had been issued with the older style of bag with the equipment pockets.
The simpler bags like that pictured continued to be issued in Sussex Police until the mid 1990s when handbags were withdrawn altogether.