POLICING IN THE BARR COLONY

There is not a lot of information on policing in the Barr Colony.  There is also a dearth of names but a few did stand out.

Apparently Inspector William Parker nicknamed "Old Hard Face" was assigned to safeguard interests of the colonist in Saskatoon.  If outrageous livestock deals or grossly inflated prides were reported to him, he had a stern word with offenders who usually warily made the suggested amends.

The first Lloydminster detachment of the North West Mounted Police opened the summer of 1903 with Inspector T. McGinnis in command.  He was assisted by two constables and sometimes an extra one.  Apparently one of the first policemen in the area was a capable, tactful young officer named Sergeant Donald James McCarthy.  He shepherded the large company of inexperienced newcomers from Saskatoon to their destination.  After his policing career he became a homestead inspector in the Lloydminster area and a partner in the newspaper business, the Lloydminster Times.

In these first years the roles of the N.W.M.P. had little to do with crime and a great deal to do with human welfare. The constables rode a regular circuit checking on each colonist, making notes on each, distributing food and advice and bringing people in dire straits to the village for needed aid provided by the government.  That first year or two the police boarded with Alice and Willie Rendell.  A letter from William Jellie in 1956 reminisced about Sergeant McCarthy often stopping over night at his homestead between Lloydminster and Battleford.

In 1917 the N.W.M.P. gave way to the Saskatchewan Police Force which had been formed that year. This new body took over policing in Lloydminster.  The detachment was greatly enlarged in 1925 when the Onion Lake office was moved to Lloydminster.  It was under Corporeal F.B. Pearson, the officer which had been at Onion Lake.  The quarters were a six room building on Lots 23 and 24, Block 5 on then Church Street owned by J. G. Willard and rented to the S.P.P.F. for $30 monthly In 1931 the Force took possession of two rooms on the second floor of the new Post Office on the corner of 50th Avenue and 50th Street. Later under the R.C.M.P., offices were moved again in 1959 to 4801 - 44th Street and in 1982 to the new and larger office at 4201 - 47th Avenue.  They have grown to a force of 31 members including the staff sergeant and sergeant; also, a support staff and several auxiliary members.