Defunct British LE Agencies

[speagle]

Interesting site.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_defunct_law_enforcement_agencies_in_the_United_Kingdom

Ed

[Mervyn Mitton]

Thanks Ed. A very useful listing and saves a lot of work when having to look things-up. With so many old Forces there is room for many more collectors in this field. Police have always been the 'poor' relative - the public seem to find the Military more interesting.

[NickLangley]

Thanks Ed. A very useful listing and saves a lot of work when having to look things-up. With so many old Forces there is room for many more collectors in this field. Police have always been the 'poor' relative - the public seem to find the Military more interesting.

Interesting but not exhaustive.For example Borough of Hove Police is not listed.

The really strange thing is that actual prices for long obsolete forces' insignia are now barely any higher (and in many cases lower) than 30 years ago.

Edited September 29, 2010 by NickLangley

[Les-Art]

Hi Nick,

You are correct the Wikepedia list is not complete, but relying on anything on Wikipedia without other references is not smart. I guess you get what you pay for.

The first statement about the Metroplitan Police in London being the oldest force has already been disproved, by Police History scholars.

It is a good starting point but anyone interested in a full list has to do a bit of actual research.

As to the prices of of older police items being in some cases cheaper than before, it is quite simply because new collectors want the new items or items that are perceived to be high value items and therefore worth collecting. I suppose it depends on why you want to collect it, to save history or to make a profit in the future. Sadly the latter seems to be the case nowadays. The so called 'high' value items ,I find are being offered at starting prices way beyond their worth on auction sites and in most cases seem to sell. When I started collecting ,an English police helmet plate averaged a £ 5.00 price tag with only the City of London Plates or older black ones fetching more money, now it seems common to pay £ 20.00 for a 'normal' plate, I don't see them worth more than 30 years ago , but I can appreciate that values should rise with age (less of them around) however all those sold 30 yeras ago have gone into collections and in the main stayed there. Does that make them rarer, not sure it does, as there are no more or less than all those years ago.

Best Regards,

Les