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SALT LAKE CITY — In a locked room on the third floor of Salt Lake City’s new public safety building, there are many items that didn’t make it into the new police and fire museum in the lobby.
“Yeah, there are some neat items up here,” said Salt Lake Police Lt. Mike Ross.
Lt. Ross is in charge of the museum, and with some help, he has collected hundreds of items that show his departments past.
“We began in 1851, so there is a lot of history with the Salt Lake City Police Department,” Ross said.
There is a book on one of the tables that has old mugshots. One of those mugshots is of George Cassidy, more commonly known as Butch Cassidy.
"He was actually picked up in Wyoming and sent down here to serve time,” Ross said.
"That photo has been seen all over the place. That's the original photo."
There are also dozens of books on shelves with mugshots, and each mugshot has a story.
“This book here is all prostitutes from the 1930s. You can read the stories of how they came to the big city and unfortunately ended up in that kind of life,” Ross said.
There are old police badges, guns and trophies too. They’re all stacked on shelves waiting to maybe one day be put on display.
"It is strictly (because) we just didn't have enough room. Maybe we can rotate them in and out of the lobby display,” police chief Chris Burbank said. “I would love to have two floors of museum space and that's all we do."
One photo features the first traffic light, which was developed by Salt Lake City traffic officer Lester F. Wire in the early 1920’s. It’s believed to be the first traffic light in the country.
Other items in this room also show how rough female officers in the department had early on.
One photo from the early 1900’s shows the entire department in front of a building, except for the lone woman in the picture, who was forced to sit behind a tree so you can’t see her face.
"Everyone is dressed in a uniform and badge and she's got a corsage," Ross said.
There is also a female police uniform from the 1970s that featured a skirt. It only lasted two weeks before female officers demanded a change.
There is also evidence that plenty of laws that have changed. A yearly arrest report shows some of the laws that were broken in 1892.
"Allowing chickens to trespass. We made four arrests for that. Allowing females in a saloon after 9 p.m. We made arrests for that,” Ross said.
Budgets changed too.
“In the early 1900s, the budget for the entire police department was $60,000,” Burbank said. “Well, now, that won’t even pay for one police officer.”
But for all the items in this room, there are plenty of things Ross would like to have.
“We don’t have a lot of our police uniforms through the years. We would certainly love to have somebody who might have these uniforms donate them to us, as well as any other items related to the history of the police and fire departments,” Ross said.
To contact Lt. Mike Ross about items in the museum, or to donate items, you can call the Salt Lake City police department at 801-799-3100.
