The Museum of the Integrated Police is a museum based in a former army barracks in Etterbeek in the Brussels Capital Region.
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Collection and History
The museum is dedicated to the history of the Belgian police since 1794. This year was the end of the Ancien Régime; when Belgium was under French rule. The collection includes uniforms, weapons, decorations and vehicles. There is also a collection of historic photographs. The museum also has a research centre, which contains records of the history of the various police units.
The collection consists of two halves, one of which contains exhibits from the Didactic Crime Museum, which was established in 1925 in the Palace of Justice. The other half comes from the former gendarmerie, and arrived in 1968 from a previous exhibition at the City Hall of Brussels. There are also smaller exhibits from the former municipal police, the Belgian Civil Guard, the military police, and other smaller forces.
History
The current museum collections were brought together in 2006. In 2014 the museum was given the structure of an association without lucrative purpose. Around the same time the museum was renovated, and has since displayed several thematic exhibitions. In 2016, for example, it participated in the 100 Masters campaign run by the Brussels Museum Council to promote the permanent collections of various museums in Brussels.
The museum can only be visited by appointment and is only accessible to groups accompanied by a guide. One can also request to visit the stables.