In the late evening hours of March 3rd, 1963 a young Phoenix woman was kidnapped, brutally raped and robbed while walking from a bus stop. 10 days later, on March 13th, 1963, Ernesto Arturo Miranda was arrested by Phoenix Police for the assault. These events set in motion a series of court hearings which resulted in a United States Supreme Court decision that would forever identify the relationship between law enforcement and those suspected of crimes not only in the United States but in many countries around the world!
Phoenix was incorporated as a city on February 25, 1881. Law enforcement was handled by Phoenix city marshals and later by Phoenix police officers.
In order to provide our visitors with the finest displays of police history the museum relies on the generous donations of its viewers and on museum memberships.
In October 1993, the Phoenix Police Museum started as a small exhibit at the Historic City Hall, 17 S. Second Ave. With the assistance of Cindy Myers from the Phoenix Museum of History, a temporary six-month display was created. The event was enthusiastically received. The Arizona Humanities Council funded a study of the artifacts to determine if enough material existed to open a small museum and it was determined that there was.
