Jee SHOULDER STRAP

OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE

BRITISH_COLUMBIA PROVINCIAL POLICE

DECEMBER, 1947 PUBLISHED SEMI-ANNUALLY

PAGE

AS USUAL, in this eighteenth edition of the Force’s
own magazine we have tried to give an intimate picture
of these men who police Canada’s westernmost province.
Here, in the land of the “last frontier”, amid a setting
of wild and rugged grandeur, the law is represented by
picked men whose code is high and whose standard is
second to none.

Since the day when Chartres Brew, - organizer of
B. C.’s colonial police force (forerunner of the present
corps) took oath of office at old Fort Langley, four
generations of British Columbians have admired the busi-
ness-like way in
which “B. C.’s finest”
have dedicated them-
Commissioner T. HW’. S. Parsons, O.B.E. selves to the task of
law enforcement.

From the day, over 90 years ago, when a handful of gold-
seekers started up the Fraser River, and the problem of law
enforcement brought into being Canada’s first Western Can-
adian police officers, the Force has never remained static. Always
its senior officers have reached ahead for newer methods, new
appliances to aid the work of law enforcement. And each suc-
cessive commandant has been able to look back with pardonable
pride on some advance fostered during his term of office. This
year, another milestone in the Force’s long history is marked by
the retirement of Commissioner Thos. W. S. Parsons, O.B.E.
Perhaps no commanding officer in the history of the Force has
encouraged so many forward administrative steps, including
improvements in training methods, in the science of investiga-
tion, communication, transport and a host of other details which
stand today as a memorial to the man who this year retires as Deputy Commissioner John Shirras
head of the Province’s police system.

On his retirement, after forty years of police service, THE SHOULDER STRAP joins with the
Force in a salute and farewell to Thomas W. S. Parsons, and at the same time extends a welcome

hand to his successor, Deputy Commissioner John Shirras.
The Sditors

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