“Everybody criticizes police, but nobody criticizes museums”: Police Headquarters and Museums as Public Culture

Abstract

Museums are increasingly placed front-and-centre in police headquarters. Based on interviews, field notes, and observations, we examine the significance of placing museums in the foyers of new police headquarters for public culture and police legitimacy. Drawing from critical heritage, cultural and policing studies literature, we argue the trend represents a strategic means of softening the image of police and creating myths central to reinforcing their legitimacy. We show that studying the representations inside police museums is crucial to comprehend how these entities depict social reality and provide frames through which the public make sense of policing and carcerality more broadly. Conceptualizing police museums as a form of public relations management that has material impacts on urban life and public culture, we reflect on what our findings mean for literature on cultural representations of “criminal justice.”