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Thursday 10am - 4pm Friday 10am - 4pm Saturday 10am - 4pm Sunday 10am - 4pm

International Police Museum - Oregon, USA

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International Police Museum - Oregon, USA

The International Police Museum is the home of an extensive collection of vintage and modern nationa

The purpose of the International Police Museum is to collect, preserve, exhibit, and interpret police history and heritage of the Rockaway Beach and Oregon police departments, and national and international police departments. We hope to foster appreciation, understanding, and respect of police through education and demystification of law enforcement through presentations and display of loaned and

owned uniforms, equipment and ephemera at outlined in the bylaws of the International Police Museum.

06/19/2026

What you can do at IPM:
- Throw the whole “fam” in jail
- Prepare for riot control
- Call for backup
- Tell the crowd what’s going on with the bullhorn
- Get a photo with the guys

06/14/2026

Most of my days these days are good, all of my days at IPM are the most bestest, but some days just shine. While the Head Cat is gone, this 'lil mouse has been working on an a modified inventory project to quickly inventory and get ready for display a variety of foreign patches, badges, and small-ish items . 3-4 days ago I found a jumble of Irish badges and could not decipher the donor's notes.
Yesterday - first guest in said he wanted to see if we had anything from his country, but that it looked like we did not. (See it coming?) I used the "hold that thought" line, and disappeared to fetch the . . . drumroll please. . . .Irish badges. About 20 minutes he left a guestbook comment that the stop was the highlight of his road trip, I had all the badges sorted out, and learned some Irish history along the way.

Truth be told, the Head Cat would have known the answers, but he wasn't here. And the whole adventure is what my days here at IPM are usually like.

Photos to come.

P.S. And we did have an Irish uniform on display - he just hadn't noticed it yet.

06/12/2026

Some years ago a wonderful lady named Doreen volunteered with the Red Cross on a typhoon disaster relief operation. As a thank you she received this patch. How do I know??. After a visit to IPM a few weeks ago, Doreen decided to donate her patch to IPM and it was one of the highlights of my day when the patch came in the mail yesterday.

Thank you, Doreen. The Guam Police Department patch will fit perfectly into an exhibit we are in the process of making.

06/09/2026

And our meeting room is ready. OK it has been ready for a week or two but I have been hogging it trying to get a special quilt done for a special person.

Which is one of the answers to the question “why would I want to rent a community meeting room if I am not planning a meeting?”

To lay out your quilt with the backing?
To cut out that pattern you’ve been wanting to make?
To do your taxes?
To sort through all those old photos?
To work on presents in secret?
To do any or all of those with friends?
To meet your book club?
To come take a quilting class from me?

06/07/2026

What fun! We have a patch from London. Where did your first thought go?

Not England!! This this is a patch from London, Ontario, Canada. And there ends the only thing I am sure of. I could use some help from our local neighbors to the north. I can tell that the animals on this patch are a stag and a bear both in a rampant attitude. Beyond that the information I have found is varies depending on what website I am using. It is or is not a coat of arms - or seal. The only things I am sure of are that the bear is not a lion, and the words on the patch are not what I find in other searches. Oh wait, do you even SEE any words on this photo!?

Help please.

06/06/2026

I had some fun patches to do a "variation on a theme" post, I thought I would look up how the fleur-de-lis is relevant to Quebec. Slam dunk. Maybe 15 minutes. It's now pushing 3 hours later, and I need to see how I can summarize this without taking another hour. Not in any particular order - -

**Historically, the fleur-de-lis was the heraldic representation of an Iris.
**The first (maybe) fleur-de-lis appeared on the French coat of arms during the reign of King Clovis, who lived from 455-511, possibly b/c the Frankish army attributed a victory to the marsh Iris that grew along the Vienne River and allowed the soldiers to walk without sinking, resulting in a victory.
**It was adopted by the French royalty, and appeared on the flag of New France (that part of North America claimed and settled by France) flags from the mid-1500's to the mid/late 1700's. The flag was not used after New France was ceded to the British until the mid-19th century when a flag bearing four fleurs-de-lis was created.
**In 1963, the white lily was designated as the floral emblem of Quebec. The particular white lily chosen is not native to Quebec, and apparently does not do well when planted.
** In 1980, Pierre Bourque, director of the Montreal Botanical Garden, named the Blue Flag Iris as the emblematic flower of Quebec
**In 1999, the Blue Flag Iris (which grows wild in Quebec) replaced the White Garden Lily when the Quebec Flag and Emblems Act was passed. The current flag of Quebec is a white cross on a blue background with a white fleur-de-lis in each corner.

06/05/2026

We are frequently ask if we sell any of our inventory. And our typical response is maybe eventually. Eventually begins with this NY Police re**er from the late 1990s. It is an excellent condition, sharp looking, very heavy, and made by Golden Fleece Outerwear. I was authorized to put $250 on it, and from what I can tell, that may be a tad underpriced. The head cat is away and this mouse will offer 10% off of it if it is gone before said cat gets back.

I also have a pretty cool looking jacket from the Metropolitan police in Holland that is pre-2000.

Clock is ticking ………

06/03/2026

It was both an honor and a whole lot of fun to have the opportunity to reconnect with Sandra Christoffer. Sandra, whose maiden name was Sandra Crook, donated this display of her husband Det. Richard Tracy, a.k.a. Dick Tracy. Sandra can tell great stories of when she was married and “ Dick Tracy caught a Crook.”

Many of our younger guests are not familiar with the comic book hero Det. Dick Tracy and his infamous fedora and yellow trenchcoat. Note the copy of a comic book which was donated by a collector of old books when he saw our display.

05/31/2026

It’s favorite comment of the daytime, and some fun photos from this past week

The comment, reads “incredibly interesting that this is here in this part of the world.” When visitors step in the door I often hear “yes, it really is a Museum, and yes, it really is about policing, and they really do have a lot of stuff from other countries”

05/30/2026

So it’s been slow in my world today (but the visitors were beyond amazing). So I’m doing a little research. Everybody has their opinion about AI. On the one hand, mine is probably not printable on this forum, but on the other, sometimes it’s just fun to see what happens,

Here’s a patch - - and AI’s description. Now unless AI can go in and alter what I post, which I am just about ready to believe, I’m going to assume I don’t need to explain.

Address

320 S. Highway 101 FOR MAIL PLEASE USE/P O Box 165, Rockaway Beach, OR 97136
Wheeler, OR
97136

Opening Hours

Thursday	10am - 4pm
Friday	10am - 4pm
Saturday	10am - 4pm
Sunday	10am - 4pm

Website

http://InternationalPoliceMuseum.org/

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