Carl Giles was the master cartoonist of the 1950s and ‘60s, working in Ipswich, and enjoying a close relationship with the lads of the Borough Police. He was a personal friend of the Chief Constable, the much liked and respected James Crawford, and was on first-name terms with most of the Officers.

This cartoon was, I believe, originally published in the Daily Express at the time of the merger of the three Suffolk forces on April 1 1967, and then was re-published in Police Review of April 21 of that year. This is the version used in Police Review, and it carries an acknowledgement to Giles and the Daily Express. Not shown here is a personal message from the artist to the new force’s Chief Constable, Peter Matthews – another close friend of the artist.

The drawing shows the entrance to the Borough Police Station, in astonishingly accurate detail (it was on the east side of the Town Hall building) at the time of the merger. The two Officers punching each other’s daylights out represent the rural East Suffolk and the urban Ipswich Borough forces.

The one on the left is wearing the East Suffolk coxcomb helmet (which became the style for the new force) while the other battling Bobby is very clearly a Borough man. The Sergeant and Inspector are Borough men, who have come out of the doorway to investigate the fracas.

Like all of our late-lamented forces, the Ipswich Borough force was one with an enormous sense of pride – it may have been small, but there was nothing tiny about the emotions you felt when you wore the uniform. It was a sad day, indeed, when the merger came about, and the relegation of the proud Borough to simply a Division of Suffolk Constabulary was a very bitter pill to swallow. Carl Giles would have been well aware of how the situation was viewed by all ranks of the Borough Police, and the flag of surrender he has included above the doorway expresses the feelings of every single Officer who worked from that Station at any time in the history of the force.

The accuracy of the sentiments, and the physical accuracy of the station, are typical of the work of Carl Giles. The Victorian stonework is just as it was (and still is), and he hasn’t even missed the fact that the step into the doorway was higher on the left than the right, because of the slope of the street.

Inside the doorway was, on the right, the enquiry desk, while on the left was a waiting area which could also be used for informal interviews. Facing you across a passageway was the sliding window behind which sat the Station Sergeant, with the door into the Information Room beside it. There were all the usual facilities and offices of an older-style force HQ, including a quite impressive armoury