Historic charge books return to VicPD with a techno twist

Victoria Police Department News Advisory

Victoria, BC – “Book ‘em!” It’s a phrase commonly used in police TV dramas and refers to the handwritten charge books used on the front lines of law enforcement. On Nov. 26, historic charge books were returned to VicPD after being preserved electronically by volunteers of the Victoria Genealogical Society and the UVic Libraries’ Digitization Unit.

These historic charge books from the 19th century are part of Victoria’s rich history and document chargeable offenses within our borders from April 1873 to November 1874. The following are examples of the type of “routine” infractions included in the charge books over the years:

• 1860: “John Kelly was arrested yesterday on a charge of driving a horse over the bridge leading to the ‘Songish village’ at a rate faster than allowed by law. He was fined 5 s (shillings).”
• 1862: “Furious driving of Horses & Drunken furious driving.”
• And the “Growing of Noxious Weeds” (something that the later Mounted Patrol unit of the early 1910s would be tasked to keep an eye out for).

The books reflect numerous infractions similar to those listed above, as well as the tremendous strain put on the department dealing with the level of intoxication and routine drunken fights—much like any “frontier town” would have seen back then.

The Victoria Genealogical Society (VGS) and the Victoria Police Historical Society teamed up in a joint effort to digitally preserve and make accessible this irreplaceable historical information after learning that a part of our history could be lost forever if not for proper documentation and preservation. The two agencies contacted UVic’s Research Partnership and Knowledge Mobilization (RPKM) Unit to match those needs with UVic expertise and to facilitate collaboration between both agencies and the university.

Staff in UVic Special Collections and University Archives have now digitized the information and hope to make it part of their digital collections in the near future. VGS volunteers have already begun to index the charge book entries for ease of research.

The charge books came home on Nov. 26 at 10 a.m. when members of the VGS and UVic Libraries, along with the VicPD charge books, were officially escorted to police headquarters in a historic squad car.

About the Victoria Police Historical Society

The VicPD Historical Society is a non-profit society formed in 1994 with the aim of preserving the proud history of the Victoria Police Department (est. 1858) including the ad hoc police units that were present on Vancouver Island starting in 1849. All sworn and professional support staff of VicPD are members in the society. The society’s artifacts include charge books, mug-shot books and articles of uniform and equipment. The society is also actively restoring the original 1921 Commerce Mercantile Patrol wagon, one of the first motorized vehicles in the department’s fleet.

About the Victoria Genealogical Society

The VGS is a non-profit, volunteer-run organization, founded in 1978. VGS welcomes both young and old, beginners and advanced genealogists, and family history research queries from both near and far.

The VGS aims to further the study of genealogy in the various areas of interest to the members while collecting and preserving, by donation or purchase, materials relevant to genealogical study. The VGS also wants to advance and encourage public knowledge of genealogical resources in the Greater Victoria area while encouraging and instructing members in the ethical principles, scientific methods, and effective techniques of genealogical research.

About UVic Libraries and RPKM

UVic Libraries is the second largest in BC being composed of three libraries, the William C. Mearns Center for Learning - McPherson Library, the Diana M. Priestly Law Library, and the Curriculum Library. UVic Libraries support the learning, teaching and research needs of the university community. UVic Libraries’ combined collections include over 2.1 million books and growing digital collections.

RPKM at UVic provides partnership brokering services to UVic scholars and community, government and industry partners looking to collaborate on research. Its suite of practical services supports the creation of new knowledge to improve the social, cultural and economic well-being of people—turning that new knowledge into action.

-- 30 --