Jee SHOULDER STRAP

OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE

BRITISH_COLUMBIA PROVINCIAL POLICE

DECEMBER, 1947 PUBLISHED SEMI-ANNUALLY

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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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