Victoria Police Department
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 tasers and VicPD created the first digital forensic 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 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