VPRS 937 Inward Registered Correspondence

The Victoria Police was formed with the passing of the 1853 Act for the Regulation of the Police Force. This vested overall responsibility for the police in a Chief Commissioner appointed by the Governor and established a system for the appointment of other officers with the terms and conditions of their employment. The Office of the Chief Commissioner of Police performed an essential role in central management and administration of the Police Force providing central control, supervision, administration and coordination.Victoria was originally divided into nine metropolitan and country districts with these being increased to eleven after the 1881 Royal Commission. Each of these districts was further sub-divided into local areas with local police stations and offices. Districts were eventually in the charge of a Superintendent responsible to the Chief Commissioner.The Police Depot and the Detective Force existed prior to the 1853 Act. The Depot was used for the training of recruits and the provision of certain essential services to the police force. The Detective Force, initially under the control of an Inspector and later a Superintendent, were part of the police establishment but operating from a central office. From 1883, this Detective Force was reformed in the wake of the 1881 Royal Commission being then formally established as the Criminal Investigation Branch.The correspondence in this series was created as part of the management and administration of the Police Force and as a means of communicating essential matters, decisions and information important to the exercise of its law enforcement functions.The correspondence is that sent to the Chief Commissioner of Police as the chief executive officer of the Victoria Police. The Police used the nineteenth century practice of responding to a piece of correspondence by annotating the original and then returning this to the office of origin or forwarding correspondence with an annotation rather than a separate covering letter or memorandum. Records of incoming correspondence were kept by the copying of significant letters by the recipient or by the noting of a precis in the Minute Book.Items in Units 507 to 515 are varied files. Some may be part of the earlier sequences of correspondence which have become separated from these earlier sequences such as that for Kilmore 1856 and Wimmera 1890. Other items are separate distinct files of specific criminal cases, files to do with separate issues and files of statistical returns. With these latter, provenance is most unclear. They may have been created this way as they marked special criminal cases or administrative issues. Similar records to those in Units 507 to 515 may also be found in later units of VPRS 807 Inwards Correspondence.