The British Columbia Police was established in September, 1858,
by James Douglas (later Sir James Douglas) . At that time Douglas
was Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company and Governor of the
Colony of Vancouver Island. When the Fraser River gold rush
occurred, Douglas assumed responsibility for maintaining law and
order on the Mainland of British Columbia, and established a small
police force at the diggings. This force was not an organized
police force in the modern sense, but rather a modified form of
the English system of police offices composed of stipendiary
magistrates and paid constables established in London in 1792. In
British Columbia, the gold fields were divided into administrative
districts each in charge of a gold commissioner armed with
magisterial powers. These officials, who were under the orders of
and directly responsible to the Governor, were referred to both as
stipendiary magistrates and as gold commissioners. One of their
main functions was to put down lawlessness in their districts.
For this reason, each magistrate was authorized to appoint a staff
of not more than six constables. Since the constables were also
employed as the magistrates’ clerks, recorders, collectors and
postmasters, they became integrated with the administrative system
of the Colony.
The suddenness of the Fraser River gold rush found Douglas without
competent men to appoint to the important office of stipendiary
magistrate. He hesitated until June, then appointed a staff chosen
from the gold mining population. Without exception the men whom he
appointed proved incompetent. The constables also were selected from
among the miners, and with few exceptions their service was unsatisfactory.
Before any of the appointments were made, the miners had
taken the law into their own hands. They treated the magistrates
and constables with neither fear nor respect. At the end of the
year there was a breakdown in law and order in the goldfieids,
culminating in a dispute between two of the magistrates, generally
referred to as the "McGowan War."
The question now arose as to whether or not British Columbia
should have a large, centrally controlled, semi-military police
force organized along the lines of the Royal Irish Constabulary.
There was already in the Colony an officer of the famous Irish
Force. This was Chartres Brew, whom Sir Edward Buliver Lytton had
selected to assist Douglas in organizing a police force. Brew,
who arrived in the Colony in November, 1858, was appalled at the
inability of the police to control the miners. He proposed that
a force of 150 men should be raised in the Colony, but the
expense involved caused Douglas to withhold his consent. After
the McGowan War, Governor Douglas, with Brew’s concurrence,
requested the Colonial Office to send out a force of about 150
of the Irish Constabulary at the British Government's expense.
This plan was dropped when it was learned that the expense would
have to be borne by the Colony. Brew then requested to take the
constables in the goldfields under his charge. However early in
1858 the military forces in the Colony had been substantially
increased. Also a new and competent staff of magistrates had
been appointed. Consequently Douglas did not now feel the need
of a strong police force. His unco-operative attitude persuaded
Brew to abandon all hope of taking control of the police. He
accepted instead a position in the magistracy. Consequently the
colonial constables remained under the control of the magistrates.
Fortunately there appeared a better class of magistrates and
constables after 1858. The magistrates were selected from
suitable candidates sent over by the British Colonial Office.
Without exception they won the confidence of the Governor.
Their efforts were mainly responsible for the general good order
that prevailed in British Columbia after 1858. The Governors of
the Colony allowed the magistrates to choose their own constables.
However in 1864, under Governor Seymour, the constable
establishments for each district were fixed by the Governor-in-
Council and all appointments to the constabulary had to have the
Governor's approval. Although these measures gave more stability
to the police the early development of the Force was hampered by
the financial circumstances of the Colony, There were too few
constables to deal with the serious increase in crime at the
height of the Cariboo gold rush or to coerce large mining
companies if they defied government regulations. Nevertheless
the British Columbia Police was motivated by high ideals of
public service. When there were openings for new Magistrates,
first consideration was given to the constables. After
Confederation the magistrates became servants of the Dominion
Government while the constables came under the jurisdiction of
the Province. This change led to two important steps in the
evolution of the British Columbia Police. First the police
became independent of the judiciary. Second, a superintendent
was appointed for the whole force. However modernization was not
completed until 1923 when the British Columbia Police was reorganized
by the Police and Prisons Regulations Act. / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/41668 |
| Date | January 1955 |
| Creators | Hatch, Frederick John |
| Publisher | University of British Columbia |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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