BY KEITH LACEY
Sudbury?s first murder charge was filed against a woman 96 years ago. The city?s first hanging took place in 1916, and the last hanging occurred 40 years later. The first of eight officers killed in the line of duty in this community, Const. Albert Nault, was fatally wounded Dec. 21, 1931, near the downtown freight shed. Nault?s brutal murder was never solved.
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The manager of the police museum, Heather Lewis, looks forward to visits from people interested in policing and local history. |
These are just some of the hundreds of interesting pieces of information available at the Sudbury Region Police Museum.
The museum has been a work in progress for more than two years. Phase 2 is now finished and completes the fully interactive museum, located on the third floor of police headquarters at Tom Davies Square.
The second phase of the museum was completed with a $75,000 grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, said manager Heather Lewis.
The main focus of the museum is to provide information to the public about the history of policing in and around Sudbury since the city was
incorporated as a town way back in 1893.
Through the use of artifacts, photographs, documents and now interactive computers, the museum displays the origins, growth and development of the Greater Sudbury Police Service and local law enforcement through the decades.
New displays include the history of forensics, communications, transportation, firearms and weapons, body armour and evolution of the uniforms used by officers over the past century.
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Sudbury Region Police Museum features, among many other interesting items, an old fingerprinting kit that was used many years ago. |
?The museum provides information not only about the Sudbury force, but old forces in Garson, Copper Cliff, Falconbridge and Onaping,? said Lewis. ?We try to provide as much information as we can to the public.?
As many as 1,200 area school children have accessed the museum over the past two years. Lewis expects those numbers to dramatically increase now that the second phase has been completed and there?s so much more to offer.
?We get a lot of school children, but we also get a lot of tourists and we also get retired officers who come back to Sudbury for a visit,? she said. ?We?ve also had quite a few visits from other police officers from other countries.?
Here are a few more interesting pieces of information the average citizen might now know about the local police service:
n In 1906, George Gunyon was appointed chief constable for Sudbury and was paid $900. In 1908, he became the city?s first police chief.
n On July 11, 1937, Sgt. Fred Davidson was shot seven times while on duty. He managed to describe his attackers and identify two suspects before dying. Police tracked down two men and one was shot and killed and the second was convicted after trial and hung.
n On July 18, 1949, the force lost two officers. Const. Gerald Dault and Const. Edward Terrell were called to a boarding house. Terrell was fatally shot while approaching the building. Two other officers responded. Dault left his cover to try and move members of the public away from danger and
was killed instantly when shot by the same sniper. A civilian was also seriously wounded helping put Dault in the ambulance. The sniper was found
dead in the residence. It?s not known if the wound was self-inflicted or was inflicted by police bullet.
n Sgt. Larry Quesnel was killed while on duty on Oct. 14, 1965. Lionel Proulx killed himself after shooting Quesnel.
n Const. Joe MacDonald was killed after being pistol whipped and shot by Peter Pennett and Clinton Suzack while conducting a routine traffic
stop on Oct. 7, 1993. Pennett and Suzack were convicted of first-degree murder and are serving a life sentence.
n The last officer killed in the the line of duty was Sgt. Rick McDonald, who died while trying to lay down a spike belt after a teenager led police on a high-speed chase. The incident took place on July 28, 1999.
The museum is open during office hours from Monday to Friday. Special tours can be arranged on weekends if there?s advance notice. For more information, phone Lewis at 675-9171, ext. 2635 or go online at www.police.sudbury.on.ca.
(By the way, the woman originally charged with Sudbury?s first murder, Mrs. Ranger, was found not guilty by a jury as they believed she acted in self-defence.)
