Journey into the history of law enforcement in Mobile with a visit to the new, 920-square foot Mobile Police Department Museum located downtown at 320 Dauphin St.

The beautiful, state-of-the-art museum occupies the storefront section of the downtown precinct office at Dauphin and Claiborne Streets. It is open to the public around the clock, seven days a week.

Current operations of the precinct will continue without interruption, including round-the-clock surveillance of the downtown streets, which visitors may observe through a glass enclosure.

An old-time police precinct desk initiates the museum visitor to law enforcement’s historical setting. Rows of display cases portray the history of weapons, badges, protective gear, constraints and other police provisions, as well as interesting documentation about how it was used to save lives, for both citizens and police officers.

Mannequins set around the museum display a history of the police uniform. Documents take the visitor all the way back to the Civil War, when entries were elegantly scripted into the jail logs. A panorama of historical photos lines the walls.

At the far end of the museum is a jail cell with its austere complement of bed, sink and toilet. A cutout of a human body clad in jailhouse black and white stripes with armholes and a head hole beckons the visitor to snap a picture for mom and dad, or just as a keepsake.