This photo was taken in 1957 when I was stationed at # 12 District Headquarters, North Bay, Ontario. I started on February 15, 1956 and was assigned to Traffic and General duties. There was an opening in the Identification Branch and I applied for that and was accepted in early 1957. Photographing traffic accidents and crime scenes was most interesting and I really enjoyed that part of my work. Learned all about fingerprinting at crime scenes, photographing and lifting prints as well as the classification of prints. As a result I spent a lot of time on various courses at OPP Headquarters, the Attorney General's Laboratory, RCMP Headquarters in Ottawa taking advanced courses on Photography and Fingerprinting. By 1966 I was transferred to the Intelligence Branch at OPP General Headquarters Toronto and worked on Organized Crime, involving Electronic and Visual Surveillance.
We were working with the Metro Intelligence branch on solving bank robberies that were taking place. Our surveillance revealed that two guys were planning a robbery right in Metro, so we started to follow them day and night. They would go to this bank, one guy would get out, go into the bank, the other would remain outside with the engine running. The first guy came back out to the waiting car it would make a right turn at the first street, then drive quickly to a nearby mall, park their car and hop into another one and take a round about way back to where they started from. This ritual would be repeated several times in the next few days as we observed them. The big day was at hand, indications were that a real robbery would be taking place. Sure enough, they head for the mall in two cars, leave one there and head for the bank in another one (stolen earlier). As the one guy enters the bank, we hear on our radio one of the Metro guys say " watch this, I will take care of the wheelman" We see him walk up to the passenger door yank it open and get in. The car immediately takes off around the first corner and a unmarked Metro surveillance car takes its place. Here is what actually happened...... As the Metro guy jumps into the getaway car, he pulls out a gun jabbing it in the guys side, he screams at the driver " This is a stick up, drive around the corner and stop. Give me your wallet quickly now" The guy complies, the Metro guy pulls everything out of the wallet money included , spilling it all on the floor. The Metro guy looks up and sees a Metro cruiser blocking off the street ( pre arranged ) says" Oh, shit! don't yell for the cops, I'm outa here" throws the wallet at the guy. As the other guy comes out of the bank, he sees the car parked in front is not his buddy, looks around to see where he might be, turns to run up the street and finds himself surrounded by uniformed police, as Metro cruisers converge on the bank. He gives up quietly. The getaway driver in the meantime is surrounded as well by uniformed members of Metro's finest. He is busy trying to tell them that he was just robbed by someone who pulled a gun at him. Each one of the culprits is taken away separately so they do not see one another. They are both questioned and finally put in adjoining cells. The verbal exchanges between the two were recorded by one of the Metro guys without their knowledge. After a debriefing as to the sequence of events we listened to the recording. It was a real comedy! The getaway driver is trying to tell his partner that he was robbed and taken hostage by a guy with a gun. " Yeah, sure you bastard... you chickened out and left me you rotten son of a bitch, who are you trying to kid ?...no one gets robbed in front of a bank in broad daylight" says the bank robber. "But, but I tell you its true, man, this guy hops into my car and pulls out a gun and shoves it in my side, makes me drive around the corner, here look, there must be a mark or a bruise where he jabbed me with the gun." says the getaway driver. "Sure, sure.... you are a real prick making up a story about being robbed, just because you chickened out." The tirade went on for more than 15 minutes and we all laughed so hard that tears were running down our faces. Chalk up another good day for the " Ghost Squad "
While in North Bay, I got to know many of the flight crews stationed at the Airbase there and we were able to get a "spin" in the CF100 fighter plane once in a while. This one evening I am on patrol with a Corporal from the Detachment at North Bay and as everything is quiet we decide to go up to base and chat with the pilots that were on standby. I was asked if I wanted to go for a ride to Thunder Bay and back as it would not take too long at 600 plus mph. The Corporal said go for it, so I said OK. Shortly we were screaming along the runway and then climbing rapidly headed west. Everything was going fine until the pilot announced that the aircraft was experiencing some minor problems as we were over Thunder Bay. After some conversation with the base at Gimli, Manitoba, he advised me that we were headed to Gimli to get the problem looked at. Nothing to get alarmed about, but how was I going to explain being in Manitoba, over 2000 kilometers away, when I should have been on patrol in the North Bay area? The Corporal had a couple of calls from dispatch and looked after them, but when the shift ended at midnight, he had to come back in without me. He told the dispatcher that I had felt a bit ill and he dropped me off at home. It was nearly four hours later that the CF100 arrived back at the base in North Bay and the Corporal was there waiting in his own car and drove me down to the Detachment to pick up my car. I was much relieved to be back and nobody the wiser about that experience! Wow! imagine the newspaper headlines if they would have got wind of that trip! I would probably been fired for being absent without leave as well......
The Browning Silver Medalist Target Pistol. Chris just love to shoot this pistol even after I had bought her a pistol of her own.
While stationed in North Bay ( 1956-1966) I and several others formed a Pistol and Revolver Club for members of the OPP. Chris also got interested in shooting when she found out that there was a ladies shooting club in North Bay. She joined the Ladies division of the Nipissing Rifle and Revolver Club and started shooting a .22 rifle that Terry had fixed up with target sights, etc for her. Then I purchased a Hi Standard Supermatic Citation 22 caliber pistol for her so she could take part in the pistol shooting as well.
Here we see Chris clowning around with my uniform jacket and cap on with a 38 Police Special in her right hand, a 22 Beretta in her left hand and a baton dangling from her left hand as well.
This was an ideal situation for us as we could go out together to practice pistol shooting up in the gravel pits north of the city as well as the RCAF range at the Air Base with the clubs. Later the NRRC built a range east of North Bay by Hwy 17 where we used to practice as well. This was a wonderful time for us as there were many shooting events throughout the year, socializing at the dinner parties that followed and presentations with trophies being awarded. Below are couple of the many Trophies Chris has won Pistol Shooting!
Chris was getting quite proficient with the handgun, winning many trophies at various pistol shoots, and I must say she was deadly accurate firing rapid fire targets, 10 shots in 10 seconds grouping the shots on the target so tightly that they could be covered by a quarter (25 cent piece) But, alas... her prowess with the handgun spelled doom for our OPP shooting club. She took part in an invitational shoot which included our club as well as many others in the area. Her score at that competition was better than those of the members of the OPP club with the exception of Mel Peever, Dick Purdon and myself. The club was never the same again as former members would not come out to participate in our practices or shoots. We learned later that many of them were embarrassed by the fact that a housewife could outshoot them!
While being on a temporary posting to Cobalt, Ontario, I had to respond to a call at the Cobalt Hotel where a fight was in progress between some beer drinking patrons. As I entered the premises there were two people on the floor trying to hammer one another with their fists. I asked the onlookers and bartender who the instigator was in this tussle on the floor. They all said it was the big Finlander in the torn shirt. I just moved over to where they were struggling and stood there without saying a word. Suddenly the Finlander caught sight of the red stripe on the leg of my uniform trousers. His eyes focused on the red stripe, slowly his head turned as he followed the stripe up to see my holster, baton and handcuffs. He got up slowly and I asked him to come outside with me and to get into the cruiser. I went back in to see if the the other one wanted to lay charges against the Finlander. He did not saying it was just a bit of a misunderstanding between them and no harm done. I took the Finlander to the local lockup, put him in a cell and then spoke to him in Finnish. He was surprised to be addressed in his native language. I asked him how come he did not put up any struggle when I asked him to come with me. He told me had a high respect for the OPP and would not cause any trouble drunk or sober to any OPP officer and added as an after thought...... " If you start to fight with an OPP officer and get the best of him you still won't win because, they will send another one to help and if that isn't enough they keep sending them until they have a whole army of them to subdue you, it is a no win situation to start a scrap with the OPP" This guy was a giant of a man, over 6 feet tall, weighed at least 250 pounds with no fat on him, a perfect physical specimen. I did not have to threaten him or cuff him to take him into custody. Makes one wonder what is gong on in this world of ours when policemen appear to be using excessive force in what should be routine arrests and handcuffing elderly men and women who obviously are not about to escape or cause problems. Perhaps if our law enforcement officers treated everyone with the respect due them, we would have less complaints about police behavior. I told him he should sleep it off and I would be back in the morning to let him go. He said that would be fine. The next morning was Sunday, I was not in uniform when I released him and invited him to breakfast on me in the local restaurant. He accepted and we had a long pleasant chat about our Finnish background, etc.
Recall one night as we went out to install a "bug" on a telephone line, my installer was making a few snide remarks as to how the DS (Detective Sergeant) me, should show leadership qualities and do an installation once in a while. This consisted of climbing a 60 foot pole this particular evening, opening box, locating the wire pairs and clipping on the line powered device. This sort of got me by surprise and I did not understand what brought it on, unless it was the height of this particular pole as most of them were only 16 to 25 feet high usually. Perhaps he was afraid of the height and I do know he did not have any linesman experience to his benefit. I took off my suit coat and tie, grabbed an old jacket from the back seat to cover my white shirt, strapped on the safety belt and spurs, asked him for the bug and the wire info. I climbed the pole, installed the device, called down to him to check it out to see if it was transmitting when I turned the handset on. He said it was OK. I came down the pole in record time, kicking out my spurs by bringing my knees together and then back out again to halt my fast descent as the spurs tore long strips of wood out of the pole. When I came back to the ground and over to the car, he told me he thought I was going to break my neck when I was in sort of "free fall" Until that night he did not know that I had made a living as a linesman and telephone line troubleshooter on the Algoma Central Railway. I think I gained a bit of respect that night for my prowess as a linesman as my installer had told the others about the "installation" by the DS
Naked Lady with a Butcher Knife! Coming back from taking photos at a fatal MVA (motor vehicle accident) I heard the North Bay dispatcher checking for any available unit to assist at a home in one of the townships where a naked lady was brandishing a butcher knife and threatening an officer that had been sent to the scene. I offered to go as I was only about 7 miles away. Upon my arrival at the home the officer explained the situation...... The lady was obviously disturbed about something, would not put down the knife when asked to, and would approach the officer menacingly every time he went into the house. He would have to retreat outside. We went into the house and tried talking to her to no avail. She appeared to be in her early twenties, five feet two inches or so, weighing about 115 pounds, striking shoulder length black hair, stark naked with a 12 inch butcher knife in her right hand. As the other officer was talking to her, she kept moving toward him as he went around the kitchen table and when he passed where I was standing she continued following him without looking at me. I had grabbed a blanket out of the trunk of my cruiser before coming into the house thinking that we should cover her up if we could subdue her. I indicated to the other officer to go around the table once again and perhaps I could grab her from behind as she passed where I was standing. Sure enough, she did not even look my way as she went by and I moved up behind her quietly, wrapped the blanket around her in one motion, kicked her behind the knees so she dropped to the floor, grabbed both her arms and held them up until the other officer grabbed her wrists and removed the knife from her hand. She struggled briefly, but quit when she realized that she was hogtied, so to speak. She was taken to the local mental health facility where she received treatment and was later released a month or so later. No charges were laid by the investigating officer.
Having an early morning meeting with the Intelligence section of the London, Ontario police department, I had checked into a motel room for the night. As I lay relaxing on the bed I heard a peculiar sound coming from the next unit. Having my surveillance equipment in the unmarked cruiser, I went out and brought in my bag of tricks to investigate this sound. I used a spike microphone inserted into the electrical outlet on the adjoining wall and plugged in the amplifier and tape recorder. The sound was vaguely familiar and made me think of the Gestetner copy machine I had used at North Bay District Headquarters when I was stationed there. Why would anyone be running a machine in a motel room. A check of the occupant's vehicle license plate did not revealed anything of interest. I decided to call the head of the Intelligence section and tell him of the curious goings on in the next room. He said he would be right down to see me. Shortly, he arrived and since the sound was still coming thru the wall, had him listen to it live via earphones. He agreed that it sounded like a copy machine or something of that nature. He was very interested and made several phone calls and said that they would be raiding the room next door. He also advised me that this may be a break that they had been waiting for in their investigation of bogus cheques being passed in London and surrounding area. To make a long story short, the raid went off without a hitch, the guy was arrested, a small printing press confiscated and thousands of bogus cheques were seized bearing the logo and name of a large local manufacturing plant. Later I was informed that when the investigating officers went to the manufacturing firm to confirm that the cheques were indeed copies of their payroll cheques, but that they were new ones that had not yet been used previously and would be issued the following month for the first time! This investigation became even more complex as company officials were trying to learn how criminals could get copies of new cheques that had never been issued before! As you can see " Curiosity killed that criminal scheme"
We were doing surveillance in the Sarnia area assisting the local police departments in a series of break ins that seemed to be the work of an organized gang. We had wiretaps going and trying to evaluate the information we were getting, however we seemed to be lacking any specifics so decided to bug the living room of an apartment that was rented by the prime suspect in the case. We had asked the local police to keep an eye on the suspect and let us know when he was out of the apartment. We got word that he was in a local beer parlor with some of his friends and proceeded to the apartment, picked the lock, entered and were moving some furniture around to locate an electrical outlet, where we could install the bugging device, when we heard noises and a voice saying "Who's there? " It appeared to be coming from a bedroom down the hall and caused us to freeze on the spot, however my partner answered quickly and said " Its the landlord, I was just checking to see if you're still here as you are late in your rent" ( we had heard that he needed a quick heist to pay his rent on the wiretap) The guy answered and said "I will have it for you the day after tomorrow, OK?" My partner replied "OK " as we headed out the door. As soon as we were outside we got on the radio and asked if the suspect was still in the beer parlor and the answer came back affirmative. We suggested someone go in and make sure that he was there. Soon we got word back that he was not there. Taught us a lesson, not to rely on others, for such information.
Got a call one day to investigate a death that occurred in one of the Townships East of North Bay. I arrive at the old farm house and am met by an elderly man who states that his brother passed away in his sleep and he did not know what to do except call the police and then place a kitchen chair by the bedside. I check to see if there is any pulse, but I can not find one. I ask a few questions as to what had occurred the day before and whether there had been any signs of illness or had his brother complained about feeling poorly. My mind comes back to his remark about placing of the kitchen chair by the bedside. He had said he knew that he needed to place the kitchen chair by the bedside when death occurred..... Things just did not click in my mind as to what he meant by it. Finally I asked him why he placed the chair there. " You know, it is needed for Rigor Mortis to "set" (sit) in." Obviously the old gentleman's interpretation of Rigor Mortis was different than that of the medical profession which is "The muscular rigidity that occurs (or "sets" in )shortly after death" I did not bother to enlighten him on the subject.
One day as Sgt. Frank B and I were headed to London to set up a command center for surveillance and a wiretap operation, we had just got by the Airport on the Hwy 401 when we spot dust billowing up as a car coming east is sliding off the shoulder of the road and finally starts to roll over and over up an embankment and then rolls back down ending up on its roof. We stop and run across the median and the east bound roadway to see the driver trying to get out of the window. He doesn't appear to be hurt and Frank asked " That was quite the ride, are you drunk or something?" To which the driver replies " Of coursh I am, what the hell do you shink I am? A damned stunt driver or somethin?" With that we radio for a patrol car to come to the scene and deal with the situation. We had many a laugh over that incident.
Safety Check and the Finlanders Back in 1956 we used to stop all traffic on number 11 Highway south of North Bay to do spot checks to see if all lights, brakes, etc were working on the vehicles we pulled over. If everything was OK we would give them a sticker for the windshield so that they would not be stopped in the future.
This particular day I am about to ask the driver to turn on his headlights etc when I hear the passenger ask the driver in Finnish where the bottle of whiskey was. The driver replies that it is under the back seat on the drivers side. Hmmmm! I ask the driver to turn on the lights, turn signals, push in the brake pedal to see if the brake lights work. I then ask to see his drivers license and ownership. Everything checks out OK and I give them a sticker for the windshield, but then ask both of them to get out of the vehicle. When they are both out and standing on the right side of the vehicle, I reach in and extract the 3/4 full bottle of whiskey from under the back seat. I then join them on the right side of the vehicle and tell them if the bottle had been in the trunk I would have let them go, but this is a serious offence and I have to write it up. " Do you understand? " I say to them. "Yes, officer we do" is the reply. " I could let you go if the bottle was empty, so what if I pour it out here into the ditch? It would be empty then, right?" I say. They nod their heads agreeing that it would be empty. I unscrew the cap and pour the whiskey out very slowly, watching their faces. The expressions that crossed their faces were priceless. One of them was licking his lips with an agonized look while the other just sort of froze as the bottle was emptied. I told them that they could continue their trip but do not carry open liquor in the car again. As they got in and were pulling away, I heard the passenger say in Finnish to the driver... " That damned cop has a nose trained to seek out liquor, did you see how he went straight to it?" The Corporal that had watched the entire episode asked if I had said "Good Bye" to them in Finnish as they left. I told them I had not and I did not want to spoil everything by letting them know I was a Finlander and spoke Finnish. This way they will tell the story over and over again to all their friends, etc.
Staff Sergeant and the telephone While I was in North Bay, we had a crusty old Norwegian transferred to District Headquarters from somewhere in North Western Ontario. He had spent most of his career in the sticks with party line phones etc and I liked him from the first time I saw him. He was really down to earth and handled all disciplinary problems fairly. One day my Corporal and I heard him trying to make a long distance call. We heard him say to the phone..." Listen lady, how in hell do you know that I dialed the wrong number when I haven't finished dialing it? Are you listening to me? If you would just shut up, we could talk and settle this problem..... Now damned it, shut up and listen to me for a change" He bangs down the phone and mutters about stupid lady operators. Shortly after he tries again and the same conversation ensues but this time his voice is raised and he is thoroughly pissed off with this operator that won't listen to him. This is apparently the first time he has heard the automated recordings that we are all used to if we hit the wrong digit or whatever. Shortly thereafter the Detective Sgt. comes in and helps him get his call through.
Thief Powder on the Toilet Seat! Some of the things we did were definitely not nice. I recall one day while others were out to lunch at District Headquarters two of us decided to sprinkle a tiny bit of Thief Powder on the toilet seat in the women's rest room.
This powder was interesting in that, it was nearly invisible and when it came in contact with the skin, it would turn deep purple colour. The more you tried to wash it off, the more it would spread. To get it off was usually several days of constant washing and scrubbing. The next morning we heard bits and pieces of conversation regarding the bottoms of two of our secretaries being covered with a deep purple stain and it was also visible on their hands where they had tried to wash it off. We were never suspected of anything and the mystery probably still remains in their minds as to what happened to their bottoms!
Tractor Trailer and Mini skirted young lady I was riding a street car on Queen Street in Toronto one day when the streetcar came to a halt as a large tractor trailer was stopped on the street blocking the path of the streetcar. The operator waited, rung his bell and so on to get the tractor to move, however to no avail as there was no one in the cab. A shapely young lady in a mini skirt, sitting in the seat in front of me, gets up, asks the operator to open the door and tells him she will back shortly.
We see her walk down the length of the trailer, climb into the cab with lots of leg showing beneath her mini skirt. Suddenly there is a puff of smoke from the diesel exhausts as the unit moves forward for half a block, parks along the curb and the girl clambers down from the cab. The operator of the street car moves forward and opens the door to let the young lady back in, who saunters to her seat as if nothing special happened. Everyone on the street car clapped their hands enthusiastically as the street car continued on its route. I ask her where she learned to handle the tractor trailer so expertly. She replies that her family owns a well known freight line of diesel tractor trailers, etc and that she has been jockeying the big rigs about since she was 14 years old at their staging yards. You just never know about others until you ask!
The snow storm that hit us yesterday ( Jan 25/04 ) reminded me of the following incident that took place while I was stationed in North Bay. I received a phone call from our Radio Room to proceed to an accident involving a Department of Highways snow plow and another vehicle on the North Bay By Pass at Twin Lakes. The DOT had requested photographs be taken for their files , etc. The weather was really bad with snow coming down and visibility very poor due to blowing snow as I headed to the scene. As I parked behind the snow plow, I looked around to see where the other vehicle involved might be. There wasn't anything in sight on the highway, but I heard faint voices coming from down an embankment. Trying to see through the blowing snow, I was able to distinguish the underside of a vehicle with all four wheels in the air about 150 feet off the highway. The entire vehicle was buried in the snow with several people trying to dig away the snow from the sides of the vehicle. Looking over the scene in front of the snow plow, I noticed tire tracks leading up to plow's right side. This plow was one of the V shaped ones that stood six feet or so high, with sort of sloping curved configuration to lift the snow and throw it high beyond the shoulder of the road. I took several photographs facing both directions and then took a shot of the goings on down the embankment. More people had arrived and they were now digging in earnest to see who may be trapped in the vehicle. Suddenly, I see a person being pulled out and assisted to his feet. Apparently he was the only one in the vehicle and he did not have a scratch on him! Talking to the snow plow operator and his assistant revealed that this vehicle just appeared out of the swirling snow and it hit the plow, went airborne rolling slowly to its left as it sailed the 150 feet through the air, landing upside down in the snow. Both the operator and the assistant remarked that if the vehicle had hit the plow dead on the V shaped nose it would probably have split the vehicle in two with serious injuries to the occupant. The driver explained that he was traveling at a fair clip when swirling snow suddenly obliterated everything in front of him and the only thing he saw was this yellow wall or something come up just before he went flying through the air. No charges were laid, there was no damage to the overturned vehicle or to the snow plow and no injuries suffered by the driver. I think it had to be his lucky day !
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