Taken from the "Record of Policeman's Duties"
Sunday February 28th, 1904
"Patrolled Streets from 10 AM to 12 and from 2 PM to 6 and from 7 PM to 10 and left everything quiet and orderly." signed -W.N.Crouse, Policeman
The Bridgewater Police Department was formally organized under a standing Committee for Police and Licenses, upon the town's incorporation in 1899, late for a Nova Scotia town. The Chief of Police, also serving as "Sanitary Inspector and Truant Officer," worked with a budget of less than $600 as did his successors for the first two decades, to cover wages, uniforms ($62) and equipment costs of $13.
Typical activities were hiring a horse and wagon to convey prisoners to the Lunenburg jail, a prosecution for giving tobacco to a minor, enforcing Nova Scotia's Temperance Act and enforcing quarantine for families and individuals stricken with Diphtheria, Scarlet Fever, Small Pox and the like.
The first "lock up," owned and shared with the Municipality (County), was said to be "not a fit place to put a man" and "is very unsatisfactory as well as dangerous to prisoners and property" -- no heat ... and damp all the time ... and no toilet. In 1918, this longstanding issue was dealt with when two governments split the costs, equal to 118% of that year's operating budget, to place four new steel cages in the basement of the Courthouse.*
CHIEFS OF POLICE (1899 to present)
1899-1900 Henry T. Mitchel
1901 George A. Connors
1902 Frank E. Christopher
1903 W. N. Crouse
1904-1905 Robert Golightly
1906-1910 W. H. Ford
1911 George Pryde
1912-1918 George A. Connors
1919-1921 J. S. Coffill
1922-1923 W. F. Adams
1924-1928 Lewis C. Rice
1928-1934 Peter A. MacGillivray
1934-1942 J. T. O'Leary
1943-1945 R. M. Fancy
1945-1948 Donald Oickle
1949 R. E. Kaulback
1950-1961 H. L. Hopkins
1962-1968 D. Cantelope
1969-1979 B. E. Webber
1980-1999 David B. McGinnis
1999-2002 Shirlen Seamone
2002+ Brent Crowhurst
*excerpt from "One Hundred Years : a Pictorial History of Bridgewater", available at the Desbrisay Museum
The original shoulder flash was used until the early 1970's. (see photo below) In the 1970's it was updated to show the town crest and then in 2007 it was updated once again.
The Bridgewater Police Department, early 1970's
Left to right:
Cst. Dwight Johnson, Sgt. Lewis Hooper, Deputy Chief Shirlen Seamone, Police Commission Chairman Ernest Bolivar, Chief Bernard Webber, Cst. David Roach, Cst. Robert Smith.
Sergeant Lewis Hooper, circa 1974
Over the years the badges and insignia have changed. The BPD Epaulet Insignia and the Maple Leaf Collar Dogs are worn today on the Blue Serge Dress Tunic. The Breast Badges are no longer worn due to uniform requirements but all officers carry a wallet badge like the one shown at the left.
If you have any photos or memorabilia from the early days of the Bridgewater Police Department, please share it with us.