Winnipeg Police Museum

05/31/2026

Even the car doors are open! As part of Doors Open Winnipeg the Police Museum has staged a number of heritage and current operational vehicles for display outside in the front parking loop of the Police Headquarters Building at 245 Smith Street. The Museum cars are open for visitors to sit inside, check out the equipment and take pictures!!!

We are open today from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm!

Admission is free (as always).

05/31/2026

Day 2 of Doors Open Winnipeg is underway and the Winnipeg Police Museum has a number of friendly volunteer guides who are ready and eager to engage with visitors. Also see displays being hosted by the Manitoba Corrections Museum!

The Police Museum is open from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm today (Sunday May 31, 2026) and is located inside the Winnipeg Police Headquarters Building at 245 Smith Street.

05/31/2026

Day 1 of Doors Open Winnipeg was a huge success with hundreds of visitors attending the Winnipeg Police Museum to explore our galleries, view some fantastic displays, and engage with our friendly volunteer guides. The Manitoba Corrections Museum also joined us with their own displays and knowledgeable volunteers!

This year the Police Museum additionally had numerous heritage and modern vehicles on display in the front parking area with many being open and accessible for visitors to experience first hand by sitting inside, viewing the equipment, and taking pictures! A special thank you to Community Relations for use of their Ford Ta**us, West District for their Ford Explorer, and the Tactical Support Team who brought out their Terradyne Gurkha Rescue Vehicle.

The Police Museum will be open again for Day 2 on Sunday May 31, 2026, from 09:00 am to 5:00 pm!

05/28/2026

Wai Hai Lee, Chinese Detective

For Asian Heritage Month, we look back at one of the first Chinese police officers hired by the Winnipeg Police in 1910.

At the time, Winnipeg began hiring individuals from the growing immigrant communities it served. Officers who could speak Italian, Russian, Romanian, Ukrainian, or a Scandinavian language were hired as detectives.

The first Chinese detective, Gong Jung, was hired on May 13, 1910. He lasted only 20 days before leaving due to “cold feet”. His replacement was Wai Hai Lee, also known as Lee Hai, who signed for Jung’s equipment on June 2, 1910.

In Winnipeg, several factors appear to have led to the hiring of its first Chinese detective. The formation of a “Chinatown” in central Winnipeg, the need to understand the Chinese language and culture, and the murders of four Chinese businessmen in 1907 and 1908, which are still unsolved to this day.

Lee Hai was regularly in the Winnipeg newspapers as a witness against other Chinese who were running illegal gambling dens. As a result, Lee often faced their wrath, being the subject of veiled death threats, false allegations of corruption and graft, assault and bribery.

After four years working as a detective, Lee applied for a transfer to a Constable Interpreter position in January 1915. His application was confirmed by the Winnipeg Police Commission effective February 1, 1915.

On November 1, 1915, Lee requested a one-year leave of absence to return to China.

On August 21, 1916, information was received that Lee had been captured by Macao River Pirates and held for ransom. He was released in April 1917 and returned to Winnipeg. Unfortunately, he had overstayed his leave of absence and was not taken back by the Winnipeg Police.

There is no record of Lee’s whereabouts again until September 17, 1933, when he was arrested in a gambling raid by the Winnipeg Police. He was arrested two more times, in 1934 and 1936. His name never appears again in the local newspapers, obituaries or the police arrest ledgers. When Lee was arrested by the Winnipeg Police, he still indicated he was married, so perhaps he returned to China.

Hopefully, someone reading this today will have additional insight into Lee Hai, Hai Lee, or Wai Hai Lee that might help us better understand his life.

For more on Lee and the Chinese community in Winnipeg:

https://winnipegpolicemuseum.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Lee-Hai-Web-Story.pdf

05/21/2026

🚪 Doors Open Winnipeg is back May 30 & 31!

Step inside the Winnipeg Police Museum and explore the history of policing in our city during this free, city-wide event hosted by Heritage Winnipeg. Our museum will be open all weekend with extra volunteers on site to provide tours and answer questions.

📍 Winnipeg Police Museum
🗓 Saturday, May 30 | 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
🗓 Sunday, May 31 | 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM

🚓 Don’t miss the opportunity to view the Museum's operational police vehicles displayed outside in the front HQ parking loop, perfect for photos and a closer look at the equipment used today.

Doors Open Winnipeg also gives visitors access to many other unique buildings and landmarks across the city, including museums, historic sites, and government buildings that are not always open to the public.

Admission is free, we hope to see you there!
https://doorsopenwinnipeg.ca/

05/20/2026

Winnipeg’s Parks Police, 1897-2017

Two weeks ago, I wrote about the Aqueduct Constable. Another constabulary with a long history in Winnipeg is the Parks Police.

First appointed in 1897, the parks constable grew to include offices in Assiniboine Park, Kildonan Park, and Kings Park, operating primarily as one-officer units that patrolled Winnipeg’s major parks 7 days a week.

On January 9, 1893, the City of Winnipeg adopted the Manitoba Public Parks Act, which gave the City authority to form a Parks Board responsible for the regulation and control of all parks, avenues and boulevards.

Immediately after its formation, the Parks Board purchased land for Ft Rouge Park, St. John’s Park and Central Park. The Board appointed its first constable on August 13, 1897.

On May 4, 1904, the Parks Board acquired the land for Assiniboine Park and, on June 9, 1909, appointed David George White as the park’s policeman. His salary was $50.00/month and included a house on the property for his use, a uniform and a bicycle.

On May 3, 1911, the Board appointed Alex McIvor as a patrolman for all other parks and boulevards. By 1915, there were 21 urban parks, including the new Kildonan Park. To patrol these parks, McIvor was given a motorcycle.

On June 15, 1927, Constable White died as a result of injuries he had received when he was hit by a car while on patrol in Assiniboine Park.

In 1961, the Metro Parks and Protection Division was created to oversee the major regional parks previously under the Parks Board. In 1972, the Parks Police returned to the City’s control with the amalgamation of all metro municipalities.

In 2005, the Public Works Department recommended that the Parks Police be converted to a Park Patrol. The transformation was complete by 2010, and, in 2017, the Park Patrol was quietly discontinued. Responsibility for public safety in the parks fell to the Winnipeg Police and the Assiniboine Park Conservancy.

Read more about the Parks Police here

https://winnipegpolicemuseum.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Park-Police-Updated-April-19-2021.pdf

05/14/2026

Louis de Plainval, Manitoba’s Dramatic Police Chief

This week, on May 12, we observed Manitoba Day, the day the Manitoba Act, 1870, received Royal Assent, creating the Province of Manitoba.

Responsible for law and order, the new province would need a police force. Louis de Plainval would become the first Deputy Chief and second Chief of Police for Manitoba.

Born in southern France, Louis joined Napoleon III’s army in 1859. By 1869, he was performing in musicals in Montreal. When the call went out to join the expedition to Red River, Louis enlisted as a Sergeant with the 2nd Quebec Rifles on May 22, 1870. After arriving in Manitoba, he was chosen as the province’s first Deputy Chief of Police on September 27, 1870.

Louis also made a reputation for himself as a performer in concerts and theatricals, as a founding director and executive member of the Manitoba Variety Club in 1871.

When the first session of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba opened on March 15, 1871, Louis was the Sergeant-at-Arms. Attired in court dress and carrying the Speaker’s Mace, Louis performed his duties with a sense of dramatic flair.

Louis officially became Chief of Police on August 24, 1872, when the first chief was dismissed.

In October 1872, Louis was granted six weeks’ leave to travel to Ottawa to prepare a plan for organizing a mounted police force for the West. While Louis had hoped to become the Chief of this new North-West mounted police force, the government had other plans.

Perhaps learning the government would be looking elsewhere, Louis withdrew his application and left for New York City in 1873, where he worked as a detective to infiltrate the city’s French Communist gangs.

Adopting the stage name Louis Nathal, he also continued to perform in concerts and theatricals throughout North America, making a triumphant return to Winnipeg in October 1880.

Louis died in New York on January 2, 1890, from influenza. He was buried in New York.

This presentation by John Burchill of the Winnipeg Police Museum describes one of Winnipeg's early police officers. A profile of Louis de Plainval (1841-1890...

05/07/2026

Typhoid, Constable Harry Mead and the GWWD Railway

This past weekend, the Winnipeg Railway Museum put on Railway Day, prompting me to recall the Greater Winnipeg Waterworks District (GWWD) railway and Harry Mead, its one and only constable.

Typhoid fever, sometimes referred to as “Red River Fever,” was attributed to drinking raw Red River water. It reached epidemic proportions in 1904 with 1,276 cases and 133 deaths, triple the previous year.

In 1906, the City established a Water Supply Commission to identify an adequate supply. The Commission considered several sources, including Shoal Lake. Eventually, the GWWD was incorporated by an Act of the Manitoba Legislature in 1913, and plans for an 84.5-mile aqueduct were put in motion. As there were no roads, a railway was needed to transport men and supplies for pipeline construction.

To protect the 110-mile railway, including siding and spurs, Harry Mead was appointed as an Aqueduct Constable on June 5, 1914, to “patrol the line and do various duties in connection with the Right-of-Way”. To carry out his duties, Mead was given all the powers and authority of a provincial constable and paid $75 per month plus expenses.

Harry Mead was born on April 16, 1880, in England. He came to Canada in 1901, and by 1906, he was the Chief Constable at the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) shops in Winnipeg. He held this position until he was lured away to join the GWWD in 1914.

As small communities began to spring up along the GWWD railway, Mead’s position was eventually taken over by the Manitoba Provincial Police. With the completion of the aqueduct in 1919, Mead returned to the railroad as a Conductor with the Canadian National Railway (CNR) in 1920. Mead remained with the CNR until 1945. He died on January 30, 1974, at the age of 93.

Read more about Harry Mead here:

https://winnipegpolicemuseum.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Mead-Harry-Aqueduct-Constable-1914-1920.pdf

05/01/2026

The Boys of Summer Return – Remembering Bill Carpenter and the Crime of Sunday Baseball

As the Winnipeg Goldeyes prepare to kick off their preseason schedule against the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks next week, I look back to 1959 when it was a crime to play professional baseball on Sundays and future Winnipeg Police officer (and Hall of Famer), Bill Carpenter, was in the middle of it.

Born in Athens, Pennsylvania, Bill signed as a pitcher out of high school with the Baltimore Orioles in 1954 and later with the St. Louis Cardinals. Playing in the minor leagues, Bill came to Winnipeg in 1959 as part of an agreement with the Cardinals to supply players to the team.

With an ERA of 1.59, Bill helped the Goldeyes finish at the top of the league with a record of 80 wins and 41 losses. In the playoffs, the Goldeyes eliminated Fargo-Moorhead before meeting the Aberdeen Pheasants in the finals.

Tied 1:1, the final and deciding game would be played at the Winnipeg Stadium on Sunday, September 13, 1959, before 6,734 fans.

However, in 1959, it was illegal to play professional sports in Manitoba, indeed in Canada, on a Sunday, under the Lords Day Act.

On game day, the Winnipeg Police Morality Unit was out in full force to document the game, anticipating prosecution of the participants once the Attorney General’s Department reviewed the evidence.

No charges were authorized, and the legislation was amended on March 26, 1960, just prior to the new baseball season. The amendments would allow Sunday sports for gain, with some conditions.

Bill retired from professional baseball in 1962 and would go on to join the Winnipeg Police in 1967. However, he continued to play baseball for the Souris Cardinals in the Manitoba Senior Baseball League until 1977.

Bill retired from policing in 1988. He was inducted into both the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame and the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame. He passed away in 2001.

Read more about Bill:

https://winnipegpolicemuseum.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/B-Carpenter.pdf

04/20/2026

Mandatory Retirement and Deputy Chief Edward Ogelski

In my presentation on Alexander McCharles at the Charleswood Historical Society, I discussed mandatory retirement and police officers’ inability to serve after turning 60.

The law wasn’t changed until 1985, when Deputy Chief Edward Ogelski took the City of Winnipeg to Court – and won.

Edward was born in Winnipeg in 1924. He served in the Navy during World War II and played briefly with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers before joining the Winnipeg Police in 1953.
When Edward was hired, the City’s Pension By-law required mandatory retirement at age 60. In 1984, the year he turned 60, Edward received notice that he would be retired. While he was not ready to retire, the City relieved him of his command and appointed a successor.

Edward filed an age discrimination complaint with the Manitoba Human Rights Commission and was successful. However, the City fought the decision all the way to the Supreme Court. In brief, the City presented evidence that aging impairs performance and that cognitive functions, reaction time, physical strength, endurance, and physical health decline. However, there was no evidence that these factors affected Edward’s job in a way that, at age 60, would pose a threat to the safety of his fellow officers or the public in general. Edward was reinstated.

In an interview with the Winnipeg Free Press, Mayor Bill Norrie said if the ruling “is allowed to stand, the City will have to consider firing older workers who are slowing down” … It’s not a very pleasant way to end a career’ … you can’t have employees just carrying on to any age.”

Edward finally retired in 1988, two months before his 64th birthday. In 1990, the City finally revoked its mandatory retirement bylaw without debate.

Interestingly, Mayor Bill Norrie had turned 60 the year before and remained in service to the City of Winnipeg until 1992.

See the full story:
https://winnipegpolicemuseum.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Edward-Ogelski.pdf