One hundred years of crime: Incredible forensic images dating back decades unearthed for the first time from secret LAPD archive

Photos obtained from negatives held within the City Records Center in downtown Los Angeles

Archive contains forensic images dating back to 1925

Many from the Special Investigations Division, America's oldest crime lab

Majority were ordered to be destroyed because of fire hazard

They will be on display at an exhibition for Paris Photo Los Angeles at Paramount Studios from April 25-27

Hidden within the City Records Center in downtown Los Angeles - a vast repository that stores 150 years of city documents - lies the LAPD Archives.

A collection of an estimated one million photographs, the archive dates back as early as 1925 and varies from forensic shots of bank robbery notes through to morgue portraits, crime scene images and crime re-enactment stills, The Art Newspaper reported.



The center contains boxes upon boxes of decomposing, chemically unstable negatives, many of which are from the Special Investigations Division, America's oldest crime lab.

LA-based photographer and LAPD reserve officer Merrick Morton learned of the archive in 2001 when researching a photo exhibition he was doing on the history of the LAPD.

For the first time ever, photos from the LAPD archives, some dating back to 1925, have been public as part of a new exhibit. Here the body of a murder victim can be seen, dated September 13, 1934

Grisly: This photo, one of about 50 on display, is dated September 23, 1950

A car riddled with bullets is pictured from October 10, 1942 It looks like a still from a film, but this is a photo of some detectives at a crime re-enactment in 1963 Chilling: A demand note taken as evidence from a bank robbery on December 21, 1961 A detective points to a victim camouflaged in brush at a crime scene dated September 28, 1942

After searching the Los Angeles Police Historical Society's collection and not finding what he was looking for, Morton convinced officials to grant him access to the archive.

He and his wife, photography dealer Robin Blackman - who together own the gallery Fototeka - have spent hundreds of hours sifting through envelopes filled with negatives over the last 13 years, carefully selecting the most historically significant and visually powerful images.

When brought to the attention of the Fire Department, the negatives were ordered to be destroyed in bulk because of the hazard they posed to the Records Center.

The couple then convinced the LAPD to preserve the lion’s share of images, with the negatives moved to a cold storage facility in Hollywood.

Images of a shooting that occurred on 7th Avenue in the Wilshire district of Los Angeles on July 19, 1950

'Detail of bullet holes in screen', which is dated February 3, 1930

A female assault victim exposes her injuries on June 2, 1950

Around 50 of the photographs the couple came across make up an incredible new exhibition for Paris Photo Los Angeles at Paramount Studios.

The fair's director, Julien Frydman, said the result is a cinematic experience.

'The images remind us of film noir or even contemporary film stills, but what is represented in the photos are snapshots of real happenings, and not mise-en-scène,' he said.

Scene shots of a man who committed suicide on September 4, 1950

A bank robbery note from March 11, 1965 Body of a man in a morgue on on March 29, 1945 Scene of a carbon monoxide poisoning on December 18, 1950

The photos will be on display from April 25-27.

Gelatin prints can be ordered at prices ranging from $325 to $700, depending on size.

A portion of the proceeds will go toward further preservation of the LAPD archive.