About Us

Who are we?

 

Bruce and Maureen Lyon are the lucky and proud owners of the International Police Museum as well as the Museum Lodge bed and breakfast accommodation. Former Hamilton, New Zealand Police Senior Sergeant Bruce Lyon and his wife Maureen bought and then converted the high profile New Zealand level 2 historic place building on Dannevirke’s State Highway 2 High Street, into what is already an acclaimed International Police Museum as well as a stylish boutique bed and breakfast ( B&B ) accommodation with the Museum Lodge. All this after Bruce ended 36 years in law enforcement with the Ministry of Transport (MOT) and the New Zealand Police with a sudden career switch.

Bruce had served as a Traffic Officer in the then New Zealand Ministry of Transport (MOT) from 1973 until 1992. During that time he served in Blenheim, Waikanae and Taumarunui. With the amalgamation of the MOT and the New Zealand Police on the 1^st of July 1992, Bruce then continued on as a Police Constable in Taumarunui, Paraparaumu and Porirua. He gained promotion in 1997 to Sergeant and served as a Police Court Prosecutor at Porirua and then as a Police general duties shift supervisor. In 2001 he was again promoted to the Waikato Police District and based at Hamilton as the Senior Sergeant in charge of road policing services for that District. Whilst there he also carried out periods as Police sub area commander at Morrinsville and Huntly, before finishing off his Police service as shift commander in Hamilton City.

Bruce left the Police in October 2009 (at age 59) after seeing the old Dannevirke ‘Public Trust’ building, which he and Maureen purchased with a view of making his extensive Police memorabilia collection available for public viewing. This lovely old Art Deco building has retained its character and been lovingly restored back to elegance throughout.

The building that had recently and briefly gained quite widespread notoriety as the location for the ‘Promiscuous Girlz’ brothel, went by 2010 from being a ‘red light’ area to a red and blue light location of a much different and more interesting kind. Considerable time, money and effort went into creating a unique and exciting International Police Museum location with something for everybody.

Bruce went from locking people up to opening the doors wide to customers who no longer need to break the law to get a close-up view of law enforcement. After several months the International Police Museum in Dannevirke, New Zealand, opened its doors in July 2010 and became a must see for locals and tourists alike.

Bruce has commented that “no matter where in the world you are, the Police job is very much the same with similar public interest in all things Police and law enforcement”.

Maureen comes from a background in nursing and rehabilitation and was for many years a nurse at the Palmerston North hospital rehabilitation unit. These days she does care-giving for local residents in need, as well as being the mainstay of the Museum Lodge accommodation on the premises.

Both have traveled overseas for many years and share the passion for good quality accommodation and food, so also created the Museum Lodge’s quality bed and breakfast accommodation in the same building. Museum Lodge has created a wonderful accommodation for visitors and guests.

Both Bruce and Maureen share the passion and commitment to this and always enjoy greeting new visitors.