POLICING ‘THE DEEP

From Earliest Days, B. C. Police Have Always Worked Afloat as Well as Ashore

—Old Sailing Sloop Long Since Replaced by Powerful Motor Boats—Modern

Two-Way Radio Equipment—Crews Must Be Expert Navigators—Equal to All
Emergencies Along 7,000 Miles of Rugged Coast.

IN THE British Columbia Police force, as
in every other organized police force of the
world, the co-operation of the various de-
partments has been the axis on which suc-
cess has turned. It is difficult, therefore,

Maybelle and residents who were awaiting
police aid often had to wait the whims of
the weather before their complaints could
be remedied.

But not so today. Powered with a 275-

P.M.L. 14

to single out any particular branch of the
service as being superior to the other.

In a province such as British Columbia
however, one might make some exception,
for its rugged coastline, with hundreds of
fiords and countless thousands of small
islands dotted among these inlets presented
a difficult policing problem in the early days.

The exception then could be the marine
fleet of the department which today boasts
a complement of seven sturdy ships utilized
solely in coast patrol to stretch the long
minions of the law to even the remotest
spots of this great territory.

No one can tell you with any great de-
gree of accuracy exactly when British Co-
lumbia Police first used boats, but suffice to
say there are no properly kept records which
show boats were not in use from the date
the Force was founded.

PATROLS THE ENTIRE WEST COAST

There is a big gap in years from the time
when Constable Drummond, in his sturdy
sloop Maybelle, used to travel among islands
of the Gulf of Georgia, sometimes taking
days to answer a call to an isolated spot, to
the present day when the B. C. Police boast
one of the finest police boats afloat in the
92-foot P.M.L. 14, which covers the entire
west coast of Vancouver Island from its
headquarters at Victoria, the provincial
capital. There was no power aboard the

SUMMER EDITION

horsepower Winton Diesel engine the pow-
erful “14” can travel to most points within
its territory within a few hours and, if the
need arose, could travel the entire length of
the British Columbia coastline without hav-
ing to put in anywhere for refueling.

A TRAVELLING COURTHOUSE

Time, however, may change methods, but
the service has always been the same. Even
as Constable Drummond aboard the May-
belle and officers in charge of The Green
Naphtha, which patrolled out of Victoria
Harbour, held court aboard their vessels, so
is it done today. The surroundings might
be different but it’s the same justice and the
same body administering it.

The value of the marine fleet can never
be denied. Year in and year out peoples of
inhabited islands on the jagged coast know
they can call on these launches in any emer-
gency and too well they know Mother
Nature will have to be at her worst to repel
the sturdy men who handle them.

Crews of the Police launches are essen-
tially men of the sea. They may never
make “landlubbing” policemen but at sea
many of them are unequalled. Their ser-
vice requirements go further than being only
police officers. They must be expert navi-
gators and fully qualified to handle all emer-
gencies, at the same time remembering their
impartial duties as representatives of one of
the finest provincial forces in the world.

Historical records of the Provincial Po-
lice are full of sagas in which these men
took part. Emergency medical cases; major
criminal investigations; long searches for
lost fishermen or fliers. These and many
other minor phases of police work come
within their scope. Handicapped on many
occasions with lack of equipment which land
forces have at their disposal, there are few
such incidents which have not been satis-
factorily concluded.

RapIO PLAYS AN IMPORTANT PART

The advent of short wave radio com-
munication in police work has been a great
boon to the marine branch as well as most
other departments.

Four of the seven boats on the coast are
now equipped with two-way transmission
and qualified operators. In headquarters of
the radio department at Victoria a chart is
kept on which the movements of the boats
are constantly plotted, with the result that
speedy response to emergency calls is now
a matter of course.

When the emergent need arises it is a
simple matter to see which of the boats is
nearest the scene and headquarters is able

Destruction of confiscated firearms. Sergt. Harold

Raybone and Constable Frank Grimshaw, on

board P.M.L. 14, toss shovelfuls overboard into
the Straits of Juan de Fuca.

to reply to the call with an approximate
answer of the number of hours that will
elapse before the boat arrives.

PRIDE OF THE FLEET

The pride of the police fleet today is the
P.M.L. 14, launched last year at Victoria

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