gery The red serge turns 45 THIS YEAR marks the 45th anniversary of the RCMP coming to Terrace. Previously policing here was handled by the B.C. Provincial Police. But that force was merged in with the RCMP after the federal government decided to turn over policing duties to the federal force. The Terrace Standard offers this page in recognition — of the RCMP’s 45 years in Terrace. ~ Wounded officer foils bank heist LOOK CLOSELY at the left hand inner door next time you en- ter the Century 21 offices on Kalum. Just below the handle you'll find a neatly patched round hole. - It stands-as evidence of a 1962 "armed robbery in which a young ” RCMP officer lost his left leg. -. Back then the office was the “> Bank: of Montreal branch, The ‘RCMP = detachment was just across the street. On the moming of March 15, - 1962, a man carrying a rife and wearing a stocking mask entered | the bank. . “Get back against the wall. This is a hold up. This. gun is . - loaded,’ shouted the man. He be- gan scooping money into a bag. As this was taking place, two BC. Tel employees, who had “seen the man enter the bank, ran . . actoss the strect to the detach- ment and told Constable Gary - Frazer. ‘When Frazer entered the bank, the man turned a fired a number of shots. Eighth TED BRUE found himself in for ’ a bit ofa surprise when the Royal Canadian Mounted Police took over from the B,C, Provincial Po- lige in 1950, His salary stayed the same but the rent on his house went up: By 1950 Bre had already been. a member of the B.C. "Provincial : Police for nine years, transferring to Terrace in 1947, ° ’ He was one of more than 500 7 officers absorbed into the RCMP when the provincial government decided to sign a province-wide policing contract with the federal _ force. “We knew it was coming in - 1949 but we were a little ap- prehensive in the way it was -done. The top brass never told us i anything,’’ said Brue, now retired and living in Richmond. Brue, his wife Frances and two .*. daughters lived in a house pro- *. vided for them and located just behind the detachment on the comer of Lakelse and Kalum. Staff Sgt. John Veldman ‘THE RCMP got thelr man when they came looking for recruits in 1977 on the Adams Lake Reserve “near Chase. He's Charles Andrew, now a 17-year veteran of the force and the first native special constable posted at the Terrace detachment. “Twas a band councillor and . the band manager at the time,’ sald Andrew, ‘I was assigned to find recruits, [ didn't find any- body so I thought I'd give it a Ln Andrew took his training in -.,, 1978, was first posted to his home. area and then served here “-frdm 1982 to 1989, ‘The native special constable program, started in 1976, was an attempt by the RCMP to improve > te: ‘relations with the native com- - munity ‘Native special constables went Hit in the abdomen, arm and left leg, Frazer fell to the ground. But before becoming uncon- scious, Frazer wrestled the rifle away from the man who then fled with the bag. He was later apprehended on the commer of Greig and Emerson by private citizens who had taken up the chase. The stolen money, $3,800, was recovered. Later that day Charles Dilley, then 41, was charged with at- tempted murder. That night, doctors amputated the left leg of Frazer, then 27. In the fall of 1962, Dilley was found guilty after a trial in the Prince Rupert courthouse. Frazer was promoted to Corpo- tal for his actions and was trans- ferred down south. He received a commendation from the RCMP Commissioner of the day. Frazer also received the George Medal, “then the second highest award for civilian bravery in the Commonwealth. bottle The rent was $30 a month, tising to $45 when the RCMP took aver. “That burt a little bit,’ notes Brue who was then making $130 a month. “Those days were much different than’“the ‘modem: RCMP force people néw encounter. There were only two officers at the detachment here, “We had one police car and sometimes we didn’t even have that,”’ said Brue. His patrol area was large — running north to the Nass, south to Kitimat, east halfway to Hazelton and west halfway to Prince Rupert. “You were on duty 24 hours a day. Sometimes it was preity tough,’ Brue remembers. “You could swear in special constables for a particular situa- tion.” He was also the marriage com- missioner, fire marshall, brand in- spector and registrar of traplines. saying || NO GETTING married for five years, Being ready to transfer out at a moment’s notice. That’s the way it was in days gone by in the para-mililary Royal Canadian Mounted Police. “In the 1950s it was five years. When I was in it was two years,”’ said former RCMP officer Doug McLeod of the marriage restric- tion. Housing provided by the force had a Jot to do with officers being © married or singled. It meant that officers were often transferred after getting married through three months of training, less than that for regular mem- bers, before taking on their first assignments. *T believed that as a policeman, I could help my people in dif- ferent ways,” sald Andrew of his decision to join the force. He said he enjoyed his time in Terrace on general duty assign- ment at the detachment, *“T was also on the executive of the Kermode Friendship Centre,’’ - Andrew added. But Andrew also pointed to the thalienges of being a native on the force, ‘You were always under the microscope —~ from the public, from the native communities and from the force,’’ he said. Andrew also encountered — and still does — racism. from people he deals with, The anniversary ts also playing a part this weekend at the local detachment's annual regimental bail. Those attending the bail will be able to view a comprehensive display about the history of the force in Terrace. That display is the creation of Patti Noonan who spent hours tracking down photos and newspaper arti- able help in producing this page. cles. The Terrace Standard thanks Patti for her invalu- POINTED FINGER marks the spot where a bullet from a rifle went through the door of the Bank of Montreat during an armed robbery here in March 1962. That's Doug McLeod doing the pointing. The bank has since moved and McLeod's an insurance agent working in the building. ‘ cap cracked case The RCMP officers did begin to add officers here by the time Brue left in 1954. Brue remembers a late Decem- ber 1947 storm, just days after he arrived, which dumped two fect of snow on the ground wilhin two hours.. He and the other officer were called out to look for a missing motorist cast of town, They took a train to Usk and donned snowshoes . for what turned out to be a nine-mile march, The officers didn’t find the man and walked back the nine miles. **The next day I couldn’t move. It was New Year’s Eve and there I was. My wife had to tum me over in bed,"’ said Brue. He ¢id find the missing motorist, dead, a couple of days later and just half a mile past where they had stopped the first time. Brue also cracked what became known as the ‘‘Case of the Eighth Bottle Cap,”’ It involved the robbery of a man in his room at the old Terrace Hotel. “Somebody had a key to his door. He woke up as, two men were looking through his pockets. They bithim over the head with a bottle and left,” said Bruce. Upon investigation, Brue dis- covered two men in another room of the hotel. “There was $107 in the corner in the waste basket’ That was pretty good evidence,” he said. But what really. helped the case was matching up a bottle cap found in the victim’s room with seven others found in the suspects’ room, “It was that eighth cap. It got written up in the RCMP Quarter- ly,’ said Bruce. Brue’s wife, Frances, also had an important — if unpaid — role to play in policing. Police cars didn’t have radios in _ From there - he» those days, The only way patroll-_ ing officers knew they were wanted was when a red light was turned on outside of the detach- ment, That job of turning on the light, and answering Phones, fell to — t Frances, ‘, a ” “‘Some* nights we dida’t get very much sleep,’” she notes. Frances describes her part as very.much a team effort, “You know we didn’t have very much money, The salary . wasn’t very high. 1 was a police matron and I cooked the meals for prisoners. I got 50 cents a meal,’’ she said, Frances also earned money by - teaching guitar and piano, Brue was promoted to Corporal - and transferred to Langley in 1954, served in Brandon and Winnipeg, retiring with the rank of Staff Sergeant in 1969, do’ took a very long time — not so much because they had a wife but because there was no room for them. “I was in Masset and had to leave,’ sald McLeod of his mar- rizge. “There were two of us — 4 Corporal and myself. The Corpo- ral was in the married quarters and I was in the dungeon with the prisoners, literally.’’ ‘That was one way to get trans- ferred from the Charlottes.” When ‘Terrace’ RCMP Staff Sergeant John Veldman enlisted, the two-year rule was in place. ‘We pot married a day after the “Some people have called me prejudiced because I'm a mative when I’m arresting different eth- nic groups. Some people say they don’t want to deal with me,” he said, ‘People tend to look at the uniform first and they judge you on that.” Yet overall, Andrew sald has experiences are the same as with any other police officer. . “People tend to look at the uniform first and they judge you on that”? “When you wear--a police uniform, whether it be Vancouver two years was up,”’ he said. Young officers also had to be ‘ready to transfer out with very little notice. “They'd ‘pet a call and say being in such and such a place the day after tomorrow. You'd pack ‘your trunk and off you went,”’ ‘said Veldman. Things are much different now. The marriage restriction is no longer in place and it’s not un-. common to. have husband and wife both be police officers. “Usually, they’d like them .to have separate functions and notto . be working with each other,” Officer under a microscope city or Edmonton police, there's prejudice against the uniform,”’ said Andrew, One difficulty Andrew. en- countered was the force's policy of posting native special con- ~ stables back in their home com- munities. "You have to deal.. with brothers, sisters, cousins, uncles.. At one time or another you might have to arrest them for some-: thing, This was finally recognized by the force to not send members back to their home communities anymore.” “Tt can be a difficult situation to deal with family or to see other members deal with your family,” Andrew said. : The RCMP cancelled its native © special. constable program in the’ late 19809, ~ In Andrew’s case, he went back says Veldman. ‘Perhaps one is general duly andthe other is highway patrol.’ What also works well is posting RCMP couples to areas in which detachments are in much closer - proximity to each other, at Officers are also being posted to detachments for longer periods oftime, = That not only saves on moving -costs, said Veldman but fits -in better with the force’s emphasis on community policing. | Staff Sergeant John Veldman to Regina for “more training in 1989 tc become a: regular: RCMP member. Andrew is now. if 100 Mile House, One of Andrew's more , enjoy- able experlences in Terrace was recruiting twa other natives for the Force, ‘*You're seeing more and more natives on the force. Just about - every detachment now has a na- tive,”’ he said. Andrew spends time on the plione keeping in contact with other native RCMP officers. One plece of advice for those interested in joining the force Js . to be prepared for a commitment, ‘They have to be sure in their own mind that they wait to be a policeman. It isn’t easy. You're going’ into a different. world . where there ate expectations of «| you 24-hours aday;'* he said, RCMP here» in 1950 The RCMP used the same: detachment office has its Predecessor, the British Columbia Provincial Po- lice, when it took over policing duties on Aug, 15, 1950, The detachment had a strength of twa officers, both of whom were ab- sorbed from the provincial police force, That detachment building is still standing on the comer of Lakelse and Kalun. The initial rent paid by the RCMP to the federal, govemment was $98.30 a month. Highway patrol THE FIRST RCMP high- way patrol section was es- tablished here in 1960. That made for a detach- ment ‘strength of eight of- ficers and a growing need for more space. New quarters for the RCMP ALTHOUGH THERE was a. pressing need for space for some time, it took several years for. the of- ficers to get more’ elbow room., | This was solved when the detachment moved into the lower portion of city hall in 1964, . _ The initial rent was $117 a month and the space | grew according to need. ‘Eventually the RCMP grew out of its home at city hall and moved into new quarters in 1986. By that time, detachment strength numbered more than 45, Radar nabs . ‘speedsters RADAR MADE its first ap- pearance in Terrace in 1967 to critical acclaim by the RCMP, " “Radar is just like taxes — it’s here 10 stay,” Staff Sergeant John Maidens was quoted as saying in a newspa- per article from the era. That same article mentioned a two-week catch of 105 ‘motorits for speeding, - “It’s very likely the public is annoyed at the enforcement but looking at the other side of the ledger, our traffic fatali- ty rate.is down considerably. We think radar is having a good effect,”” said Maidens. Boa bagged “THE CASE of Basil the Boa has to go down as one of the. more interesting involving the RCMP. Basil escaped from the Oli’s Place zoo in 1968 and was on the lam for three weeks, - He Was spotted very close to his former home and, under orders, Was shot and killed. . Basil was then skinned and kept a3 @ souvenier by Oli ‘ Kroyer of Oli’s Place. ‘He-had plans to go out of ‘the snake business at his zoo, saying. he wanted to con- centraté on displaying domestic animals, , |Wanted iss ANYONE WHO has pictures of pastor present police of- : . ficers ‘snd events in Terrace is asked to call Patti Noonan. She’s working on a display of the RCMP's history in Ter- trace that'll be available for viewing this Saturday night at the delachment’s regimental ball, Noonan's wish list includes pictures of officers (past and ‘ present), people who grew up here and joined -the force, functions at which RCMP of- ficers: ‘were present, the original police quarters on the comer of Kalum and Lakelse (before the blue paint) and po- flee duplexes’ at the airport prior to them being moved to Thomill, The photos will be copied and thé originals returned. - ., Noonmn’s phone | aumber is 7 635-449, ;