The Victoria Police Department (VicPD) is the municipal police force for the City of Victoria and the Township of Esquimalt, British Columbia, Canada. It is the oldest municipal police department in Canada west of the Great Lakes, the first Canadian law enforcement agency to deploy

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s and VicPD created the first

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unit in the country. They are also one of the few police departments in Canada to use the G36 rifle. VicPD is currently headed by Chief Del Manak, who took office on June 13, 2017.

History

Policing on Vancouver Island was conducted by the Victoria Voltigeurs. The Voltigeurs existed as an armed, uniformed militia that served all Vancouver Island on an "as and when needed" basis. It is thought that they were primarily of Metis background. Following the end of their service, in 1854 a single town constable (Thomas Hall) policed the early town core. On July 8, 1858,

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are o ...

Governor James Douglas appointed Augustus Pemberton as commissioner of police for the then-British colony. Policing in Victoria pre-dated the city's founding (1862). Pemberton's appointment was published locally on July 17, 1858. The Governor had enlisted ten Jamaican men from San Francisco to form a police force. They arrived in Fort Victoria in April 1858 aboard the steamship, ''Commodore''. They wore simple blue wool uniforms with tall blue hats. A red sash denoted their authority. The force only lasted about two months and was disbanded because of the racial strife the men attracted. The department was a shared Crown colony, province and city establishment through until the mid-1870s when control and oversight of the department was left with the young City of Victoria. The VicPD honours the memory of five officers who have lost their lives serving the citizens of Greater Victoria; the first officer, Constable Johnston Cochrane, was murdered in 1859 and his death is marked as the first known law enforcement death in the Province of British Columbia. The most recent line of duty death was a motorcycle incident that caused the death of Constable Earle Doyle in 1959. The VicPD and their associated Victoria Police Historical Society placed a memorial cairn at their headquarters on Caledonia Avenue inscribing all five names.

Operations

The VicPD is a moderate sized police agency with two stations: * Main Headquarters Building in Victoria, 850 Caledonia Ave * West Division in Esquimalt - shared facility with Esquimalt Fire Department and former Township of Esquimalt Public Safety Building Neighbourhood patrol areas are: * Esquimalt ** Panhandle ** Selkirk ** Colville ** Parklands ** Rockheights * Devonshire * West Bay * Esquimalt Village ** Saxe Point * Victoria ** Burnside ** Hillside/Quadra ** North Park ** Oaklands ** Victoria West ** Downtown ** Harris Green ** Fernwood ** North Jubilee ** Rockland ** James Bay ** Fairfield ** Gonzales Previous VicPD headquarters: * Fort Victoria * Victoria Voltigeurs Encampment at Swan Creek and Colquitz Creek area * Bastion Square Gaol 1860-1880s * Victoria City Hall 1880s-1918 * Fisgard Street 1918-1996

Organization

The Victoria Police are headed by Chief Constable Del Manak and have a total strength of 241 sworn officers. Sections and units: * Main headquarters ** Patrol ** Focused enforcement team (FET) *** Bike squad *** Beat officers *** Traffic section *** CRASH reconstruction team *** Community resource officers ** Investigative services *** VIIMCU (Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit) *** Major crimes *** Financial crimes *** Special victims unit *** Forensic services **** Forensic identification (IDENT) **** Computer forensics ** Crime prevention and public affairs *** Public affairs *** Block Watch *** Volunteer services *** Reserve program ***

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Program ** Operational planning and support ** 911 communication centre ** Greater Victoria Emergency Response Team (GVERT) ** Strike force and street crime ** Exhibit control and purchasing ** Human resources ** Records ** Information technology * West Division ** School liaison officers ** Youth investigators ** Community resource officer ** K-9 units The force also recruits reserve constables, otherwise known as "

auxiliary constable Auxiliary constables or reserve constables (reserve constable has a different definition in British Columbia) are unpaid citizens in Canada who volunteer their time and skills to a police force. They are uniformed, unarmed members who perform a si ...

s".

Rank structure

Integrated road safety unit (IRSU)

Four VicPD officers are seconded to the 15-member IRSU. The IRSU is mandated as "providing intelligence led enforcement while targeting aggressive driving behaviors, reducing alcohol-related crashes, distracted driving and encouraging the use of seatbelts and front license plates." within the Capital Regional District. This unit comprises officers from the Saanich Police Department, Victoria Police Department, Oak Bay Police Department,

Central Saanich Police The Central Saanich Police Service is the police force for the district municipality of Central Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Currently headed by Chief Constable Ian Lawson with 28 constables, five of whom are seconded to Combined Forces Sp ...

and the

RCMP The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal and national police service of Canada. As poli ...

under an agreement with the BC Ministry of Public Safety and solicitor general and they patrol in specially marked cars and are able to enforce laws outside their municipal jurisdiction.

Museum

In late 2014, the onsite police museum at the Victoria police station Caledonia headquarters was closed. The 150 years of policing artifacts from the early days of British Columbia to recent times were moved into storage. The VicPD Hall of Honour, which celebrates the accomplishments of both sworn and civilian staff was created in its place. The Hall of Honour was officially opened to the public on September 29, 2015.

In literature

Victoria resident

Stanley Evans Stanley Norman Evans (1 February 1898 – 25 June 1970) was a British industrialist and Labour Party politician. He served very briefly as an Agriculture Minister in the post-war Attlee government but was forced to resign when he claimed that f ...

has written a series of mysteries featuring a Coast Salish character, Silas Seaweed, who works as an investigator with the Victoria Police Department.

References

External links

Victoria Police Department Website

Victoria Police Department Museum information
{{Law enforcement agencies in Canada Law enforcement agencies of British Columbia Museums in Victoria, British Columbia Law enforcement museums in Canada

Police Department The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and ...