History of the CPS

• The Calgary Police Force is created. Former Winnipeg Chief Constable John (Jack) S. Ingraham becomes the first police chief with a salary of $60 a month. Some of his duties include enforcing the town’s bylaws, arresting individuals for drunk and disorderly conduct, curbing speeding riders in the town, and attending all fires. He is also responsible for food and building inspections and attending to the local animal pound.

• Calgary has a population of 14,000, with only five police officers.
• The city instates its first civilian, and its first female employee, who acts as a Juvenile Matron. 

• The Detective Department is created to combat prostitution and gambling.

• Calgary’s population nears 40,000, and the uniformed strength of the police force reaches 36.
• The Mounted Unit is created using four horses. It would run until 1924.

• In September, the first undercover operation cracks down on a doctor who is issuing cocaine prescriptions for money.
• In October, the first serious auto accident occurs when a vehicle hits a horse, injuring the animal and killing the occupants of the vehicle.

• The Identification Bureau is established. All persons convicted of an indicted offence are photographed and fingerprinted.

• Calgary Police Service Headquarters is built at 333 Seventh Avenue S.E.
• Call boxes are installed around the city, allowing officers walking the beat to check in with headquarters every hour. Call boxes would be used until the 1970s. On average, an officer walked 2,656 miles a year, wearing out two pairs of boots.

• Line of Duty Death: Constable Arthur "Sandy" Duncan is the first Calgary police officer to be murdered. His body is found on July 2, 1917, after having been shot.
• The Alberta Provincial Police is formed.
• Officers are equipped with revolvers.

• The force’s first Harley-Davidson motorcycle is purchased.
• Parking tickets are introduced.

• Communication improves with the installation of two-way radios in police cars.

• Line of Duty Death: Inspector Joe Carruthers is killed on June 13, 1933. He is shot confronting a burglary suspect in an alley.

• A board of Police Commissioners is formed, comprised of Police Court Magistrate H.G. Scott, Judge E.P. McNeil, and Mayor Andrew Davison as chairman.

• Due to the Depression, the city puts the police force on part time.
• Every officer receives instruction in the use of the revolver, which was the first time this was done since the early beginnings of the force, when the policemen armed themselves with guns from a barrel of confiscated weapons and taught themselves how to shoot.

• The Traffic Education Unit is formed.
• The Crime Lab is established by the RCMP in Regina.

• School Safety Patrol is created.

• The Calgary Special Constabulary is formed, made up of a mounted and dismounted section. The objective is to aid in the maintenance and restoration of order and “civil morals” and the alleviation of distress resulting from emergencies. 

• Line of Duty Death: Constable Wilf Cox is killed in a motorcycle collision on his way to direct traffic for a funeral on May 23, 1941.
• The Traffic Office is established.

• The Calgary Special Constabulary splits, and the mounted section is reformed as the Calgary Mounted Constabulary. It runs until 1944.

• During the Second World War, Mrs. Vera Bell and Mrs. Mowat are hired as policewomen on a temporary basis. 

• Vera Russell becomes Calgary’s first full-time female police officer. Margaret Sadler and Olive Stanton quickly join her.

• The Juvenile Detail and Homicide Detail are formed.

• Line of Duty Death: On his way to investigate a collision on Nov. 4, 1957, Constable Ken Delmage’s motorcycle is involved in a collision with another vehicle. He dies in the hospital two days later, on Nov. 6, 1957.

• Moving pictures are used for the first time to record the movement of persons in a location being kept under surveillance.

• The Canine Unit is introduced with four dogs – two German Shepherds and two Doberman Pinschers.
• In May, the first emergency telephone number (1-1111) for fire, police and ambulance is established.

• The dermometer (eventually known as a polygraph) becomes available for use, but only in serious cases.

• The Drug Squad is formed and the first undercover drug officer lives with hippies.
• Technological advancements enable officers to test alcohol consumption levels with the breathalyzer.

• 911 Emergency becomes operational in Calgary.

• Personal radios are given to all beat personnel and the call boxes throughout the downtown core are disconnected.

• The Force is renamed the Calgary Police Service, to reflect a more community-oriented focus.
• The Crime Prevention and Arson units are established.

• Line of Duty Death: On Dec. 20, 1974, Detective Boyd Davidson is killed in a shootout with a suspect. Six other officers are wounded.
• The School Resource Officer program is established in Lord Beaverbrook and St. Mary’s schools.

• The title "policewoman" is discontinued.
• The province assumes responsibility for jail facilities.
• The first light bars are installed on police cars.
• The Service begins the computerization of case files.
• The Tactical Unit is created.

• Line of Duty Death: On March 12, 1976, Staff Sergeant Keith Harrison is killed in a shootout, after responding to a holdup alarm at a credit union.
• The Strike Force Unit is created.
• Breathalyzers are added to check stops 
• 200 bullet proof vests are purchased (there are 500 uniformed officers on the street).

• Line of Duty Death: Just six weeks into his service, Constable Bill Shelever is shot on May 24, 1977, while attempting to arrest an armed robbery suspect. He dies two days later, on May 26, 1977.

• The first Minority Group Liaison is appointed.
• The Victim Services Unit is created.

• The Mounted Patrol Team is re-formed.

• The Child Abuse Team, Crime Stoppers and the Citizen’s Complaint Review Committee are established.

• A Police Service flag is adopted.

• The Multicultural Liaison Unit (now Diversity Resource Team) is formed.

• The Service purchases a Multanova radar unit.
• The Centralized Intelligence Unit and Bicycle Detail are formed.
• The non-emergency number 403-266-1234 is established.

• Officers are provided Kevlar vests.

• Line of Duty Death: Constable Rob Vanderwiel is shot and killed in the early morning hours of Sept. 22, 1992, during a routine traffic stop.

• Line of Duty Death: Constable Rick Sonnenberg is killed on Oct. 8, 1993, when he is struck by a speeding car while attempting to lay down a spike belt.
• O.C. spray replaces Carotid Restraints as a temporary reflexive inhibitor.

• Calgary swears in its first female Police Chief, Christine Silverberg.
• The first HAWCS helicopter is operational.

Photo radar is updated to include digital pictures to be sent to vehicle owners.

• Line of Duty Death: Constable John Petropoulous falls through a false ceiling during a break-in investigation at a Calgary business on Sept. 29, 2000. He dies later that day in the hospital.
• The first Calgary Police Service officer wears a turban with the uniform. The turban is dark blue with the CPS logo in the center.

• Line of Duty Death: Constable Darren Beatty is critically injured during a training exercise at a CPS training facility on Oct. 17, 2001. He dies shortly after being transported to the hospital.
• Implementation of North America’s first portable red light camera system.
• The city installs the first eight red-light cameras to be located at high-collision intersections in Calgary. There would be 24 by the end of 2003.

• A second helicopter (HAWC2) is added to the fleet.

• The International Peace Operations Program (IPOP) is introduced and the first CPS member is deployed on a year-long mission in the Sudan.

• Calgary Police Service Headquarters moves from downtown Calgary to the former Nortel Westwinds Campus at 5111 47 Street N.E.

• The Service begins using in-car cameras.