On Holiday Through The Arizona Desert -Phoenix Police Museum
For Christmas this year, we visited the grandparents in Phoenix. With the holiday behind us, and since we were already in Arizona, we decided to take an extended trip into the desert and explore parts unknown to us. We hugged the siblings and grandmother goodbye and headed out on our journey. A journey that actually starts at the Phoenix Police Museum in Downtown Phoenix.
You see, Patrick’s family has a deep connection to the area. Specifically, Patrick’s grandfather was a member of Phoenix Police during the 60s & 70s. Oh the stories he has! As we were driving toward the museum, Captain Carroll Cooley pointed out places of interest, like a place of a drug bust, the cafe he would eat at while a patrolman and the motel where he was shot during an armed robbery. He also played a pivotal part in a case that everyone in the USA knows of by just saying 5 words…”the right to remain silent.”
As we approached, Carroll shared that the building housing the museum was the same building that housed the police department during his tenure. The entrance to the museum was the same entrance he would have used as a police officer.
Inside, the museum is filled with pieces of history, some of it dating back to the days of the Arizona Territory. While there, we had the great opportunity to have Captain Carroll tell us the story of what happened the night that led to the arrest of Ernie Miranda.
It was March 1963 when the police received the case of a young woman who had been kidnapped, raped and robbed. She had just left work at the movie theater in Downtown Phoenix late one evening when she was abducted at the bus stop. Carroll Cooley received the case and started doing the leg work to find the facts. The information on a partial license plate led him to a woman named Twila. She was Ernesto’s girlfriend.
Cooley and his partner went to Twila and Miranda’s home to follow up on this lead. “We would prefer not to have this conversation in front of your family,” said Captain Cooley. Miranda volunteered to come in for an interview.
Miranda agreed to appear in a police lineup, and the victim identified him. But she wasn’t absolutely sure.
“So we went back in and talked to him after the lineup,” Cooley said. “At that point, he asked us, ‘How did I do?’ And I said, ‘You didn’t do so good, Ernie.' He says, ‘I guess I’d better tell you about it.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I think you should.’ So he told us about it and wrote the confession.”
When you are in Phoenix, be sure to check out the Phoenix Police Museum. In addition to the Miranda vs. Arizona exhibit, you will also see exhibits on the Rangers of the Arizona Territory, the first actual helicopter of the department, history of the last 80 years by decade, and a memorial to the fallen Phoenix officers, plus much more. There is even a photo op to let the kids dress up and sit in a 70s cop car! We tried…but none of the shirts fit us. :(
Now we hug Grandpa Cooley and head off south of Phoenix to our next destination, Picacho Peak State Park.
For more information about the places we visited, check out the links below:
