rectangular, wooden, garden shed style police boxes were introduced in sunderland in 1923 by chief constable frederick j. crawley, and then in newcastle in 1925 when he took over as chief constable there. crawley was arguably the first proponent (at least in britain) of the concept of the police box as a miniature police station rather than just a communications point, including unrestricted access to the telephone by the general public for contacting police, ambulance, and fire services. his well-publicised success with these boxes, and the revised policing methods they allowed, soon led to the adoption of similar police box systems in many of the larger cities in the north of england, including manchester and sheffield.