Victoria Police Department

Infobox Police Department
name = Victoria Police Department

motto = "Semper Liber" (Always Free)
established = 1858
jurisdiction = Municipal
sworn = 241
non-sworn = 107
stations =
chief = Bill Naughton
website = http://www.vicpd.ca

Victoria Police Department (VICPD) is the municipal police force for the City of Victoria and the Township of Esquimalt, British Columbia, Canada. It is the oldest municipal police department in Canada west of the Great Lakes, the first Canadian law enforcement agency to deploy Tasers and creating the first digital forensic unit in the country.

There is an on site police museum at the Victoria police station, containing 150 years of policing artifacts from the early days of British Columbia to recent times. Hours of operations depend upon the available staff and volunteer levels. The museum is open to the general public.

Organization

Victoria Police is headed by Chief of Police Bill Naughton and has a total strength of 241 sworn officers.

The police department is divided into two major divisions, each headed by a Deputy Chief:

* Operations
** Traffic Section
** Hit and Run
** Focused Enforcement Team
** City jails
** Analysis & Intel
** Street Crime Unit
** K-9
** Youth Outreach

* Administration
** Detective Division
*** Computer Forensic
*** Crime Stoppers
*** Strike Force
*** Property crime
*** Major crime
*** Financial crime
*** Sex crime
*** Forensic Identification
** Information Management
** HR Division
** Reserve Police/Volunteer Program
** Executive Services
*** Internal Investigation
*** Emergency Response Team (ERT)
** Financial Services

The force also employes Reserve Police Officers, otherwise known as Auxiliary Constable [http://www.vicpd.ca/recruiting-reserve.html] .

History

On July 17, 1858, Vancouver Island Governor James Douglas named Augustus Pemberton as Commissioner of Police for the then British colony. Policing in Victoria pre-dated the city's founding (1862).

External links

* [http://www.vicpd.ca Victoria Police Department Website]