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When we started planning our trip to Vancouver, a friend of ours who lives in the city, suggested that we explore the Vancouver Police Museum. We enjoy quirky museums like this, so we were all for it. The Police Museum is pretty small, so it's a good idea to add other activities to your day.

It was fairly close to our Airbnb, so we decided to walk to it and enjoy parts of Chinatown. We passed by a cute Chinese Garden and a ton of Chinese shops, so we got a little taste of Vancouver's Chinatown. We would have taken a bit more time strolling through Chinatown if the weather was warmer, but it was quite chilly that morning.

Walking the streets of Chinatown in Vancouver

When we arrived, we saw a handful of people but for the most part, we had the museum all to ourselves. The first section had some interactive activities like trying on different police attire and some random costumes like the Chinese New Year Dragon. We were fairly close to Chinatown, so we figured they just threw that in there as it really had nothing to do with the police museum.

Entrance into the vancouver Police Museum

We really enjoyed looking at the old school breathalyzer machines, counterfeit money, confiscated weapons and even jail cells. You'd be surprised with some of the weapons people used; some were very clever! We saw a group of kids on a school field trip leave right when we arrived, so I bet they got a good lesson on what it would be like to be in a jail cell....not fun!

There is a section in the morgue that displayed Vancouver stories of solved and unsolved murder stories. If you're a true crime fan, you'll love it but if you are not into this sort of thing, then I would highly suggest skipping this part since the stories are pretty gruesome.

Reading some of Vancouver's crime stories

This police museum actually used to be a functioning morgue until 1980, so it was a little eerie exploring the autopsy room. They had different types of flesh and how those wounds were inflicted on display around the examining table. I kept thinking about the show Dexter when I was in this room. I most certainly could not be a profession in this field but really appreciate the people who can do this.

This room actually used to be a functioning autopsy room!

Taking a look at medical samples and slides

There was another fun little section where you can take part in being a sketch artist. The sketch artist activity was all done digitally, which was quite fascinating as we thought this was always done by hand. Also, it is very hard to describe someone when it comes down to it. You can either sketch yourself or sketch a picture that was given to you. Our friend did a pretty good job sketching himself!

Our friend did a great job digitally sketching himself

If you're interested in tours, they have several walking tours and educational tours for all ages. We saw some children take part in an investigation tour and it looked like a lot of fun. Would you be interested in visiting a museum like this? We'd love to hear your thoughts!

VANCOUVER POLICE MUSEUM
ADDRESS: 240 E Cordova St, Vancouver, BC V6A 1L3, Canada
PHONE: +1 604-665-3346
HOURS: Tuesday to Saturday 9:00am-5:00pm
ADMISSION: $12 Adult, $10 Senior / Student, $8 Youth (6-18), $30 Family (2 adults & 2 youth), Children 5 & under are free