Hamilton Police Service

The Hamilton Police Service is the police service of the city of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. As of 2021, the service employed 829 sworn officers and 414 non-sworn staff, serving a population of about 570 000 residents. The service's headquarters are located at 155 King William St., Hamilton, Ontario. As of 2022, the service's budget is $183 542 539, roughly 18.5% of the City's overall budget. It is one of the oldest police forces in Ontario.

History

The Town of Hamilton was incorporated by Upper Canadian Parliament on February 13, 1833. On March 11 of that year, High Bailiff John Ryckman was appointed as Hamilton's first police officer.
In 1829, Sir Robert Peel established the Metropolitan Police Force in London, England, based at Scotland Yard. These 1,000 constables were the world’s first police officers. They were nicknamed ‘Bobbies’ or “Peelers” and were the direct forerunners of today’s modern policing.
In March 1833, only four years later, policing was established in the Town of Hamilton – one of the first Canadian communities to adopt Peel’s concept. On Monday March 11, 1833 at the first meeting of the Board of Police, John Ryckman was appointed as High Bailiff. For a time, the High Bailiff led a handful of volunteers who served to enforce the law in Hamilton. In 1846, the town of Hamilton received its Charter and the City was incorporated. At this time the Police Department became a professional paid organization. Samuel L. Ryckman, who was the High Bailiff at the time, became Chief Constable.
In 1848 the Town of Dundas created its own police agency. In 1850, the Police Village of Ancaster followed suit in creating a police department. In 1867, Confederation occurred, establishing Canada as a country. In 1868, The Dominion Police Force, a federal police force, was established and worked mainly in Ottawa and eastern Canada. In 1873 the North West Mounted Police was formed. After the Second World War, the Dominion Police was absorbed into the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
As of at least 1883, the Wentworth County Constabulary was established and patrolled areas surrounding Hamilton and Barton, including the rest of Gore District. Wentworth County included the Townships of Ancaster, Barton, Beverly, Binbrook, East Flamboro, Glanford, Saltfleet, West Flamboro, Dundas and Waterdown and would have provided policing in areas listed that did not already have a Police Force. The Ontario Provincial Police were formed on October 13, 1909 and at various points took over some policing areas formerly under Wentworth County.
In August of 1940, the Township of Saltfleet established a constabulary to patrol its increasingly urban territory, taking over from the Ontario Provincial Police. They may have also looked after the village of Stoney Creek by special agreement, until 1949. In 1949 Stoney Creek established its own police department in the wake of the post-war boom.
At some point, the Township of Glanbrook also established a police department. Other area police departments appear to have included Barton Township, Glanford Township, Flamborough, East Flamborough, Waterdown, Hamilton Cemetery, Hamilton Beach, Hamilton Harbour Police, and Hamilton Parks Police which had the distinction of having Canada’s only one-armed Chief.
Over the years, many of these small departments vanished. Their territory was either taken over by the Ontario Provincial Police, or they amalgamated with other departments as municipalities merged or entered into joint agreements.
In the 1960s, the provincial government removed policing from direct municipal control by establishing independent Police Commissions. Policing was no longer a ‘department’ of city hall.
On December 31st 1973, there were only five departments remaining, including Hamilton, Stoney Creek, Ancaster, Dundas, and Saltfleet. On January 1st, 1974, they were all disbanded, and merged into one Hamilton-Wentworth Regional Police Force. Glanbrook, Flamborough and Waterdown were taken over by HWRP from the OPP in 1977.
On February 22nd, 1986, the Hamilton Harbour Police, an unarmed special police under the jurisdiction of the Hamilton Harbour Commission, was disbanded and its duties were assumed by the Hamilton-Wentworth Regional Police Force.
On January 1st, 2001, the communities of, Ancaster, Dundas, Flamborough, Stoney Creek, Glanbrook Township and Hamilton were merged along with the Regional Municipality of Hamilton-Wentworth into the new City of Hamilton. The former Hamilton-Wentworth Regional Police Service became an amalgamated Hamilton Police Service.
The Hamilton Police Service patrols an area of 1138 square kilometres, containing a population of 776,000.

Badge, Flag and Logo

Hamilton Police Service Badge

The Hamilton Police Service Heraldic badge and Flag were granted by the Canadian Heraldic Authority November 15, 2007. The coat of arms is a version of the national Police Badge for municipal police services. It may be granted to any municipal police service which is part of a municipal corporation that possesses a coat of arms by lawful grant from the Crown. All such badges share a frame of gold maple leaves rising up from a representation of the provincial flower from the province in which the service is sited, all ensigned by the Canadian Royal Crown.

Symbolism

There are many symbolic meanings to various parts of the Hamilton Police Service Badge. The exterior frame of maple leaves, the trillium, and Canadian Royal Crown follow the traditional style of police badges for a municipal police service in Canada. The police service has the responsibility of upholding the peace and the administration of justice under the Canadian Crown. The Royal Crown, at the top of the coat of arms, symbolizes the administration of Crown’s justice, while the laurel of maple leaves and trillium refer to Canada and Ontario respectively. The blue field represents the harbour of the City of Hamilton and the gold edges represent the city’s industry and wealth. The red maple leaf represents Canada. The two cinquefoils allude to the arms of the City of Hamilton in which such a cinquefoil also appears. The cinquefoil is taken from the arms of the Chief of Clan Hamilton, and it thus refers to the city's namesake. The coat of arms is included in the Public Register of Arms, Flags and Badges of Canada.

Flag

The symbolism of this emblem is found in other elements of this record

Logo

The logo, similar to the heraldic crest, was developed by a police committee when the Hamilton-Wentworth Regional Police became the Hamilton Police Service. It is the logo that appears on marked patrol vehicles, signage, letterhead, etc.

banner with the words HAMILTON POLICE
* maple leaf: while representing Canada, the leaf has six facets, representing the six municipalities that formed the Hamilton-Wentworth Region and then later the amalgamated City of Hamilton. Those municipalities in addition to Hamilton are Ancaster, Dundas, Flamborough, Glanbrook and Stoney Creek.
wreath of golden maple leaves
* waves - representing the connection of the city to Lake Ontario and Hamilton Harbour

The blue oval at the top of the red maple leaf represents the Hamilton Harbour, the six veins of the red maple leaf represent the six former municipalities, the veins of the leaf extending into the blue oval illustrate inclusiveness of the community, the gold trim around the maple leaf represents the wealth of industry, natural resources, business and community partnerships, the two blue waves at the bottom of the leaf represent the vision to be the best and most progressive police service.

Organization

Police services board

Like all municipalities in Ontario, the City of Hamilton maintains a police services board, responsible for overseeing policing services in the City. The board approves the police budget, hires the chief and deputy chiefs of police directly, and is the legal employer of every Hamilton Police employee. Although the board sets overall service policy and direction, it has no operational control over the service or its officers, and day-to-day policing decisions are the exclusive jurisdiction of the police chief.
The board is composed of seven members: the mayor ; two city councillors; one member of the public appointed by city council; and three members of the public appointed by the province. As of 2024, it consisted of:

Name	Position	Appointed by
Pat Mandy	Chair	Provincial Appointee
Fred Bennink	Vice-chair	Provincial Appointee
Andrea Horwath	Member	Hamilton City Council member
Geordie Elms	Member	Provincial Appointee
Cameron Kroetsch	Member	Hamilton City Council member
Esther Pauls	Member	Hamilton City Council member
Anjali Menezes	Member	Municipal Appointee

Special constabularies

In addition to maintaining the Hamilton Police Service, the Board is responsible for approving and overseeing special constabularies that operate in the City. Currently, there is only one special constabulary operating in the City of Hamilton that falls under the jurisdiction of the Board, the McMaster University Campus Security Service.
Historically, the Board was responsible for two other special constabularies in Hamilton: the Harbour Police and Parks Police. The Parks Police force was disbanded in 1963, in response to union-mandated wage hikes, while the Harbour Police force was amalgamated into the Hamilton-Wentworth Regional Police Force in 1986.

Rank structure

Criminal investigators for the Hamilton Police hold the ranks of Detective Constable and Detective Sergeant which are equivalent to Sergeant and Staff Sergeant, respectively.
Unlike other Ontario police services, all Hamilton Police officers wear shields on their chest. Members at the rank of Sergeant and above have their rank listed on the badge in a blue oval, and members at the rank of Inspector and above have gold shields.