Guns, daggers and a dash of history

KOCHI: For those who love history and want to know more about the men in uniform (khaki), you can’t miss the International Tourism Police Station and Museum at Fort Kochi.
The police station, which greets the public with a life-size statue of a tourism police officer in blue and khaki right at the entrance, is home to 20 tourism policemen in the district as well as a museum for tourists.It outlines the transition of Kerala police from the colonial period till recent times by displaying the changes in uniform, arms and artillery.
“At first, the site of the museum was chosen for building a de-addiction centre. However, due to numerous reasons the plan didn’t work out and the tourism police took up the initiative to set up a museum with the help of the public and local antique collectors, who contributed all the historic items on display,” said SI VB Rasheed.
As the collection at the museum was curated from the contributions of the public, the exact date and time period of each item is not known. However, an estimated period of the items on display has been mentioned after perusing historical documents. “The approximate time period for daggers, bayonets and guns could be identified as such information can be unearthed from old documents that contain detailed information on artillery used during historic events,” an officer said.
Antique items like pistols and guns used in 1920s and lathis used during the time of kings as well as alcohol, liquor cans and ash pots belonging to British colonial period are displayed with an approximate time period.
Apart from antique items, mannequins used for forensic purposes and charts explaining forensic investigation are the other attractions. “Police investigations techniques, forensics, including fingerprint detailing using developing powder and other methodological procedures in crime investigations that pique the interest of the public are displayed here,” said the officer.