“It’s a secure line land, that’s all” doesn’t even make sense in response to this question. The phone is on the outside of the box. Other stuff is inside the box.
OK, you don’t get it. The police call box in the context of this discussion (the non-hijack portion) doesn’t come “with” an enclosure, it is an enclosure. It seems like such a simple point I won’t bother belaboring it further, as it is becoming a tiresome sidetrack.
Note that the company behind the site I linked to claims to be officially licensed by the BBC (Doctor Who series) and Canal Plus Image UK Ltd (Dr. Who movies).
The first thing to make clear is that they’re no longer used, and the majority that used to decorate our streets were demolished decades ago.
The main function of the Police Call Boxes when they were constructed in the 30s was as a means for a police constable patrolling on foot to keep in contact with his police station, in those days before hand-held two-way radios became practical. The public could use them too, if they needed to summon urgent assistance.
They also served as a sort of mini police station on the beat: there was a small desk inside with a report book for the officer to record any incidents or observations from his patrol. The constables weren’t really meant to spend much time in the boxes – they were supposed to be patrolling the streets – but I dare say that in bad weather they would more frequently find things that required a lengthy written report to be written.
I’m not sure what you think might happen to the box when it’s unmanned – they were large concrete structures, embedded in the pavement, with a locked wooden door.
You could also put a prisoner inside one, if necessary, for short periods.
The light on the top could be used by the station to summon the officer to answer. You can see this in The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) where the Welsh officer stops Alec Guinness and Stanley Holloway’s car and says “Could you give me a lift to the box, sir, they’re flashing me” (or similar)
Dude, not only have I used Police Call Boxes, I have a key for them. The Call Box is not necessarily the enclosure. It’s also the small locking box that encloses the phone (afaik always used when there is no enclosure). The shed/box that the phone is attached to is very rare in the USA. The purpose of the CallBox is to provide a secure land line (still useful sometimes today). The shelter part is entirely optional, and in fact, if it wasn’t for Doctor Who, few would even think of the shelter part as being the call box. In quite a few locations here in San Jose we have Police Call Boxes- not a single one looks remotely like a Tardis and afaik none are phone booth types. There’s quite a bit of difference between TV shows and actual day to day reality.
The *phone *is the operative part of “Call Box”- without the phone it’s a Kiosk.
If you Google Image Police Call Box, you will see pics of both the Tardis/enclosure type (completely outdated) and of the small box that covers the phone type (still in use,but not very often).
I think the problem is that you’re talking about US Police Call Boxes, which is interesting in itself, but the topic of the thread – and what Tripler was specifically asking about – is the UK “Mackenzie Trench” design Police Call Boxes.
In that context, the booth is (or was) the Police Call Box: there was no other enclosure for the phone, locked or otherwise. The phone was on the inside of the box, accessible from the outside by a small hatch in the front of the box.
