Thousands of people saw the cells of Croydon police station, but thankfully none were criminals.

The station held an open day on Sunday, July 3, with the public able to see behind the scenes at the Croydon headquarters.

Visitors got the chance to visit the custody cells and see what life behind bars might be like.

Forensic officers also revealed some of their trade secrets and showed what it is like to be a real-life ‘CSI’.

Vintage police vehicles were there, with a Morris Minor police car and an old Land Rover from the 1970s and an iconic Rover response vehicle from the 1980s all on display.

On show were also mounted police, CO19 (armed response unit), local Safer Neighbourhoods teams, Officer Safety Trainers, police dogs, homicide investigators, forensics and Territorial Support Group officers.

Chief Superintendent Adrian Roberts, Croydon Borough Commander said: “This is the second year we’ve held the event and it’s proved to be massively popular yet again with local people who I hope have had a really fun day out.

“The big thing for me is that speaking with the different people that visited, they were really positive about the work that we do, which is something we can easily lose sight of when officers are mostly dealing with those involved in criminal activity.

“Opening our doors in this way helps to break down barriers - a lot of people have no idea what goes on at a police station and are genuinely interested in what we do. It also gives us a chance to invite the public in and find out what their views and concerns are. We’re here to serve the people of Croydon and need to listen to their views and make sure we’re focusing on the right areas - and feedback from yesterday is generally that we are on the right track with this.

”I’d also like to thank the officers, staff and our partners that were involved and helped to make it such a great day - it was a fantastic event and this was down to all those involved in the planning and on the day itself.”