Preserving history

Police Chief Paul Cook along with Staff Sergeant Ted Whittle and Police Services Board Chair Peter Chirico wrap up 125th anniversary celebrations by sealing a time capsule.

Wrapping up a special year of celebrations the North Bay Police Service ended their 125th anniversary year by sealing a time capsule in the lobby of Police Headquarters on Princess Street Thursday.

The capsule contains 125 police memorabilia pieces both modern and antique as well as a letter to the Chief of the Day from current Police Chief Paul Cook.

“What we tried to do was a cross section,” explains Cook.

“Some of the tools the trade that exist, we tried to get some of our history pieces in there, so some of the old duty belts, boots, badges and hats, and also some of the pieces that had memorabilia for our 125th so it’s a culmination of items.”

Cook, a history buff, says anticipates a number of changes to occur in the coming years but hopes the service holds true to their core values.

“I’m excited about the fact that it’ll be opened in 25years, quite selfishly I started off my letter by saying that I hope I’m around to see it opened by the chief of the day. And I just think it will be very neat because policing is an environment that is ever changing, police work changes day to day so I can’t imagine what policing is going to look like in 25 years,” says Cook.

“The only thing I am confident in is that our core values in our mission statement won’t change. You know dedicated to service, committed to community the core values of honesty, integrity, compassion for those in need, ethical decision making, integrity they’ve been a part of policing since Sir Robert Peel who first wrote the principals of policing and I don’t expect they’ll change.”

Staff Sergeant Ted Whittle, who has been on the beat for 35 years, says the time capsule will show officers the changes over time and help preserve the history.

“I think people will look and say Gee’ I don’t believe they could have operated the way that they’re operating today,” he says.

Because they have no idea how much change will occur Whittle says they included photographs as a guide.

“To give you an example CD ROMs ... we have no idea whether they will have the utensils to play these in 25 years, so we’ve tried to include photographs as well as CDs of different events throughout the year.”

The time capsule will be opened Dec 27th 2032.