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Page 2 General Meeting - November 22, 1990 The History of the West Vancouver Police Department Question periods sometimes fall kinda flat while others are spirited and seem so short that a sigh can be heard when 'time' is called. At the November 22nd meeting, it was sigh time. "Where did the name come from? What about overtime pay? Tell us something about diet and who do you call in for sickness or injury? And what about age?" Bet you're thinking those are pretty direct questions, maybe even downright rude? Well, yes and no. It depends who they're aimed at and in this instance, it wasn't guest speaker Chief Constable Herald (Hal) Jenkins, but Corporal Barry Nickerson, handler for the police service dog. Razz. Razz acquired his name via Barry Nickerson's daughter. The dog came to the Nickerson family as Rascal, a moniker unbefitting a tracker dog's station in life, and so he was renamed Razzmatazz, later shortened to Razz. Was he on duty that night? Yes. Extra pay? Maybe a biscuit thrown his way when he got home to the Nickerson house where he spends his off-duty hours. Unleashed twice by Corporal Nickerson during the course of the evening, a rambunctious Razz bounded loose, sniffing the four corners of the room, mindful of impressing a couple of dog show judges and one dog breeder in the audience. Now to get back to the Chief whose easy delivery of an informative, interesting, humourous and, at times, scary talk, held our undivided attention. In addition to covering the history of the police department since inception to present day. Chief Jenkin's speech was accompanied by a slide presentation and a display of firearms. Helping with the props and wherever else needed was "duty officer" Bas Collins, all decked out in a British Bobbie's uniform. We learned a little bit about a lot of things - firearms, drugs, gangs and car chases - even a few criminal cases. One particulary touching story was about an elderly, world-weary couple involved in an attempted murder/suicide pact. Ammunition, as you probably know, has a certain shelf life and in this particular situation, it was long out of date and had lost its zing. When the husband fired the first bullet at his wife, it lodged harmlessly in her hair curler. The old man then turned the gun on himself but the tired bullet merely grazed his ear and neck. Nevertheless, he was carted off to the hospital for attention to his superficial wounds. The investigation then turned on the dazed woman with the police questioning her about the abortive suicide pact. "Suicide pact?" she exclaimed. "It's the first I've heard of it!" We know that Chief Constable Jenkins hardly scratched the surface of his topic. He told us so. He also said he'd like to come back. That can't be soon enough, Hal. Thank you. * * * * Vf INFORMATION, PLEASE UNKNOWN; The identity of the person at the May 25th, 1989 meeting who, after listening to guest speaker Tom Sewell's address on "Events at Horseshoe Bay over the Years", very proudly stood up and announced that he owned one of the Sewells' clinker built boats. We can't put a name or face to this person. Can you? Please ring Jim MacCarthy at 922-0989 if you are in the know. *****