The public will soon be able to marvel at the treasure trove that is the largest collection of policing memorabilia in the UK.

The hundreds of fascinating artefacts telling the story of the history of the policing of Devon are in Okehampton, at the police station. For the first time, visitors will be offered a glimpse of this ‘Aladdin’s Cave’ by appointment early next year, as part of the Devon and Cornwall Police Museum project.

However, not all will be open to public view because, intriguingly some are still ‘live’ evidence which might yet be used in legal proceedings, such as appeals. This only adds to the appeal.

Particularly interesting evidence are forged coins. Also fascinating, in a somewhat macabre way, is a gun complete with undischarged bullets, from the notorious 1973 Casino Murders in Torquay in which a police officer was killed, along with other victims.

Andrea Tester, Devon and Cornwall Policing Museum project and digital officer, said: “It’s a bit chilling to hold a gun in your hand that’s been used in one of the worst crimes in the South West.”

She added: “The Victorian items, especially, bring home what a hard job police had, especially in rural Devon. They had to work without mobile communications and were using oil lamps, a football rattle, truncheon, a whistle and fiddly handcuffs.

“The expectations were perhaps higher than today. On Dartmoor, for instance, they were expected to round up stray cattle, hunt down escaped prisoners and, later, deal with car crash injuries. At one time they were all the emergency services rolled into one person at incidents.”

She has particular empathy for the wives of officers in isolated Princetown: “The next knock on the door could bring news of an escaped prisoner. She was then left alone fearful about what might happen to her and her husband. Poverty drove a lot of crime in the past.”

The oldest items in the archives are documents from 1790 and King George IV and William IV truncheons.

Historical pieces range from highly ornate police truncheons (reflecting the prestige of the bobby on the beat in years gone by) to a retired Ford Escort police patrol car (all in bits, awaiting restoration) and a range of different designs of handcuffs.

The handcuffs (including an 1880 pair with heart-shaped keys) show the evolution from a fiddly-to-fit to current quick-fitting examples – essential equipment for dealing with those who will not ‘come quietly’.

Shortly after amalgamation of the police in Cornwall, Devon, Exeter and Plymouth into the single Devon & Cornwall Constabulary in 1967, lots of archive items and objects were sent to Middlemoor, the police HQ in Exeter, for storage. PC Peter Werran put a few bits on display.

PC Brian Estill began seriously on the work of collecting police artefacts and documents in the early 1970s. Without Brian there would not be the massive collection – he rescued items out of skips and from decommissioned police stations and catalogued material. He was helped by Sid Rowsell and Trevor Finbow.

Some of the collection can be seen at the Tavistock Police Mini Museum at Court Gate, staffed by knowledgeable volunteers on Fridays from 11am to 3pm from Easter to the end of October. Now closed for the winter, it will have a special opening on Dickensian Evening, Friday, December 5. Entry is free.

To view the film of ‘The Story of the Museum of Policing in Devon and Cornwall’, visit YouTube: The Story of the Museum of Policing in Devon & Cornwall