High Sheriff of West Sussex reflects on police history after visiting former Worthing policeman's exhibition

Mr Bliss was delighted to have an opportunity to call in to The Old Court Room in The Council House, Chichester, to meet Mr Moore and visit his second exhibition telling the history of West Sussex Constabulary.

He said: "As the present High Sheriff of West Sussex, responsible on behalf of the Crown for supporting the police and emergency services, and as a former police officer myself, I found it fascinating to learn more about the officers of old who went out on patrol without a radio – just a whistle, a truncheon and a pair of handcuffs for their protection.

"The exhibition was organised single handedly by former Worthing police officer Alan Moore and reflects years of research by him, not just to unpick the names, ranks and organisational structures but to help us understand more about the lives that the police officers of the past led and the crimes and incidents that they dealt with.

"As I walked along the display – laid out as a timeline starting with the foundation of the old West Sussex Force in 1857 – it was the human stories that made the greatest impact on me, whether the account of a tragic incident near Bognor in 1942 where two brave officers were murdered when they tackled an army deserter or the numerous accounts of officers routinely going about their duties on bikes or on foot.

"The whole exhibition was brilliantly illustrated with a wealth of black and white photographs from the archives showing proud officers in their incredibly smart uniforms and with their highly polished boots.

"The most striking image in the exhibition for me was an old recruiting poster from the 1960s showing a young female officer crouched next to a little girl with the headline, ‘A career for women’.

"Protecting children remains one of the most important things that all police officers do today but in those days, the career opportunities for the few women who joined were very restricted in terms of the roles they could get involved in.

"One of the biggest changes in policing in West Sussex that Alan Moore’s exhibition charts is the growing impact that women have made since the first female constable, Gladys Moss joined in 1919. Today, roughly equal numbers of men and women join Sussex Police and the force is run by a female Chief Constable, Jo Shiner."Chatting to Alan Moore, it was clear that there was a personal human story, too, to his historical account of women in policing. He is rightly incredibly proud of the fact that today his daughter is a detective sergeant, working near London managing a team of investigators in a really challenging frontline role.

"Alan told me that many of the visitors to the exhibition this year were retired officers. I hope to persuade him to run it again as I’m sure that many people with an interest in social history and many of today’s officers would really enjoy seeing it too."