Policing the City of Victoria

Deputy Police Chief Geoff Varley

Insights into policing the City of Victoria were shared with our members at the May 12 luncheon by Deputy Police Chief Geoff Varley. He substituted for Chief Constable Paul Battershill who was unavoidably away.

Opening on an historical note, he stated that the Victoria Police Department was the oldest police force west of the Great Lakes. Evidence shows the force was active as early as 1849, however, and it was officially established in 1858, four years before the City of Victoria was incorporated and nine years before Confederation.

In those early days, the “Victoria Metropolitan Police” covered as far north as Prince Rupert and as far south as Bellingham, instead of the present ten square miles!

Deputy Chief Varley spoke of the offenses in those earlier times. Some of the more common were: drunk and disorderly, assault, being a rogue and a vagabond, and being of unsound mind.

The offense of furious driving on public streets, and impaired driving, albeit using a horse and wagon, was commonplace according to the old records.

Considering the large number of speed-related traffic incidents nowadays, Varley asked, “Who says that history does not repeat itself?”

Following amalgamation with Esquimalt last year, the Victoria department now has a complement of 220 sworn members, 100 support staff and 120 volunteers, thus second largest in the province. They have embraced zone-based policing with the creation of west and core divisions. Primary response remains with the patrol division and there is the investigative services section. The biggest challenge remains the shrinking budget in the face of increasing demands, including downloading from other levels of government.

Regarding amalgamation of all police in the Greater Victoria area, he did not hesitate to say publicly that he is a proponent of police amalgamation throughout the Greater Victoria area. Suggesting that the audience was probably familiar with the concept of reverse engineering, he challenged those present to ponder the problem if they were creating a city of 350,000, about the population of Greater Victoria; would it be reasonable and efficient to create five separate and distinct police departments?

Deputy Chief Varley has held that appointment since 2001, following a 26-year career in the Victoria Police Department. His notable achievements include the 1992-1996 police building project; the 1989-2001 CREST radio system; and, he is officer in charge of the Greater Victoria Emergency Response Team. _