Feature

TheReview Wednesday, March 11,1992 — A4

C. Saanich community cop could always falk fo people

by Girard Hengen
The Review

It wasn’t ternbly funny at the
time.

But Central Saanich police Set.
Don Mann can’t seem to help but
let out a hearty laugh when he
recalls the incident in the early
1980s that earned him the nick-

name, “Shotgun Mann.”

It happened one night, his first
evening shift back on the job after
serving a stint as a police instruc-
tor in Vancouver.

He hit the ceiling when a shot-
gun accidentally discharged in his
hands.

There had been an armed rob-
bery the previous Saturday night,

RETIRING FROM THE Central Saanich police force is
popular beat cop Sgt. Don Mann.

Keep cops divided — council

A bid to amalgamate the lower
Island police force found no takers
at Central Saanich council meet-
ing last month.

Council received a proposal
from Victoria City council calling
for a referendum on amalgamation
of the five municipal and RCMP
detachments serving the Capital
Regional District.

Ald. Clarence Bolt recom-
mended council “inform Victoria
that we most adamantly do not
support their position.”

However, council decided to
refer the letter to the police board

for comment.
* kK *

A bylaw amendment which will
create a seasonal tourist commer-
cial zone for Beachcomber R.V.
Park off Campion Road was given
first and second reading by Central
Saanich council Feb. 17.

The zone allows parking of rec-
reational vehicles and related
motor vehicles on the property
from May 1 to Sept. 30 each year.

Municipal engineer Al Mackey
noted the site comprises seven to
eight acres.

x * *

A land exchange could make a
church-sponsored, low-cost seni-
ors’ housing project possible, Saa-
nich Peninsula Parish secretary
Barbara Gibson suggested in a
letter to council.

Noting the municipality desig-
nates part of the parish property as
possible future park in the local
area plan, Gibson suggested a land
exchange.

Such an exchange could allow
for use of the present parish land
as a park while permitting future
church expansion and a possible
housing project for seniors.

The present parish property is in
the ALR but could be exchanged
for land more appropriately zoned
for housing, Gibson noted.

Council referred Gibson’s letter
to the five-year capital budget
planning and to future local area
plan discussion.

* *

A relay horse ride across Can-
ada can pass through Central Saa-
nich, aldermen agreed last month
after receiving a letter from the
Ride for Canada organizers.

The ride will start in Victoria
March 28 and finish in Ottawa on
July 1, where Queen Elizabeth
will unveil a commemorative
statue, Vancouver Island coordin-
ator Anne McLean explained.

She asked for council’s permis-
sion for an estimated 50 partici-
pants to ride through Central Saa-
nich between 12 noon and 3 p.m.
March 28.

Council approved the ride, pro-
vided suitable arrangements are
made with Central Saanich police.

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and unknown to Mann, a shell was
left in the gun.

~The bloody thing went off,”” he
smirked. “I didn’t check the
safety,” he said while admitting he
should have been more careful.

The shot brought down the roof,
so to speak, as the ceiling tiles fell
after getting waterlogged.

“They called him Shotgun
Mann for a while after that,” says
Chief Bob Miles.

A short while later in 1985,
though, Mann became a sargeant
and the second in command.

It marked the final posting in
Mann’s unique, circuitous policing
career, one that has seen him
patrolling the streets of Saskatoon,
working in England with the
Avon police department and
finally finding a home in Central
Saanich as a dedicated officer with
a passion for community policing.

Mann, a jovial 59, retires
shortly, and a retirement dinner
and dance has been planned for
Saturday, March 28 at Columbo’s
restaurant. Tickets are $25 per
person and are available by calling
police headquarters at 652-4441.

Relaxing with characteristic
ease in his home as he reminisces
on his 45-year career in military or
police service, Mann urges his
Many acquaintances to attend.

He says he’s sure to get roasted
about the shotgun incident. But
many will remember him as an
officer who lived the ideal of the
community cop.

Residing just blocks away from
the office, people would some-
times give him a call or knock on
the door asking for advice. It’s not
something he discouraged.

“J think one of the most import-
ant qualities of a police officer is
communications skills and an
understanding of people, whatever
the situation, whether it is good or
bad,” he explains.

He used to get out of the cruiser
and walk the beat, chatting with
residents. He treated people with
respect, so much so that some
suspects he has booked remember
the experience as a rather pleasant
one.

“The people on your ‘patch’ (or
beat) get to know their local police
officer, and the fact that they know
you, they don’t mind coming to
talk to you,” he says.

Mann is a Prairie sod, born in
the corner of southeast Saskat-
chewan — Section 18, Township
5, Range 3, West of the First
Meridian, he points out in case
you don’t believe him.

His parents decided to return to
their native England, and Mann
joined the British Navy at 15. He
served for almost 12 years, before
moving across the ocean in 1959
to work for the Saskatoon City
Police, where he became a patrol
sargeant.

He remained until 1970, when
he and his family moved back to
England. He was with the Avon
force for a year, before moving
again, this time to Duncan, where
he and Vida, his wife, established
a driver training school.

Chief Miles hired Mann, then
43, as a constable in 1975.

Mann spent three years —
1980-83 — as an instructor with
the B.C. Police Academy in Van-
couver, commuting on weekends
to his Saanichton home.

Meanwhile, his other interests
included a time as president of the
Greater Victoria Police Chorus.

“He was a really good street
policeman. He got along well with
the public and knew his job,” says
Miles.

“(His retirement) is a loss to the
community.”

“Tt’s a grand career,’ Mann
says. But he is ready for retire-
ment. His two sons, Stuart and
Stephen, and daughter Sharon, all
reside in the area.

He hurt his back last August

(harvesting in Saskatchewan), and
has been off the job since the New
Year on sick leave.

“Tt wasn’t the way I wanted to
finish,” he says. But friends and
well-wishers at his retirement din-
ner will be sure his last day on the
force is among the most memora-
ble.

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