List of law enforcement agencies in British Columbia

The following is a list of law enforcement agencies operating in the province of British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

Federal police

RCMP "E" Division – The Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...

is the largest police body operating in British Columbia, providing federal, provincial, and municipal policing throughout the province. “E” Division has a strength of 5,900 sworn members and employs 1,700 civilian members and public service employees. In addition, approximately 1,200 auxiliary constables volunteer with “E” Division. It is the largest RCMP division, and along with “M” Division in the Yukon
Yukon
Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....

, makes up the Pacific Region, one of the four geographical regions of Canada under the RCMP’s policing scheme. “E” Division operates out of 127 local detachments with its headquarters at 657 West 37th Avenue in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

. It polices all but 12 municipalities in the province and its Commanding Officer is Deputy Commissioner Gary Bass.

Provincial agencies

British Columbia Conservation Officer Service
British Columbia Conservation Officer Service
British Columbia Conservation Officer Service is responsible for protecting the environment and natural resources in British Columbia. Conservation Officers are peace officers, armed, and enforce 6 federal statutes and 25 provincial statutes, including the Species at Risk Act, Liquor Control and...

(COS) Part of the Compliance Division of the British Columbia Ministry of the Environment, the Conservation Officer Service is responsible for enforcing over 20 federal and provincial environmental statutes and for responding to wildlife/human conflicts where public safety is at risk. Its headquarters are in Victoria and it has 44 offices throughout the province. It consists of Commercial Environmental Investigations Unit, the Special Investigations Unit, and the Ceremonial Unit. The COS has a strength of 120 regional conservation officers, excluding headquarter staff.

British Columbia Sheriff Services
British Columbia Sheriff Services
-History:British Columbia Sheriff Service traces its roots to the first Sheriff appointed by Governor James Douglas in 1857 for the Colony of Vancouver Island in what is now British Columbia, Canada...

(BCSS) Tracing its roots to the first sheriff appointed by Governor James Douglas
James Douglas (Governor)
Sir James Douglas KCB was a company fur-trader and a British colonial governor on Vancouver Island in northwestern North America, particularly in what is now British Columbia. Douglas worked for the North West Company, and later for the Hudson's Bay Company becoming a high-ranking company officer...

for the Colony of Vancouver Island
Colony of Vancouver Island
The Colony of Vancouver Island , was a crown colony of British North America from 1849 to 1866, after which it was united with British Columbia. The united colony joined the Dominion of Canada through Confederation in 1871...

, the modern BCSS was formed after a consolidation of county sheriffs by the NDP
New Democratic Party of British Columbia
The New Democratic Party of British Columbia is a social-democratic political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party currently forms the official opposition to the governing British Columbia Liberal Party following the 2009 provincial election in British Columbia.The BC NDP is the provincial...

government in 1974, and placed under the Ministry of the Attorney General. BCSS responsibilities include transporting prisoners by ground and air, providing security for all Supreme,Appeals, Provincial Courts in B.C., assembling and supervising protecting juries, serving court documents, executing warrants, planning and undertaking High Security Operations for large scale trials such as Air India, protecting Federal and Provincial Judiciary, Crown Prosecutors and assisting the Provincial Coroners Office, carrying out court orders.Basic training is undertaken at the Justice Institute of British Columbia
Justice Institute of British Columbia
The Justice Institute of British Columbia is a public, post-secondary educational institution in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada, that is focused on training professionals in the justice, public safety and social services fields...

.

Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement (CVSE) is responsible for the inspection and enforcement of safety standards for commercial vehicles. As a founding member of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, it represents BC in the tri-national (Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

) conferences. In addition, transport of Dangerous Goods
Dangerous goods
Dangerous goods are solids, liquids, or gases that can harm people, other living organisms, property, or the environment. They are often subject to chemical regulations. "HazMat teams" are personnel specially trained to handle dangerous goods...

falls under the jurisdiction of CVSE. CVSE officers are peace officers and can issue violation tickets to all motor vehicles on the roads of British Columbia.

Regional agencies

Municipal Integrated Emergency Response Team
Municipal Integrated Emergency Response Team
The Municipal Integrated Emergency Response Team, or MIERT, is an emergency response unit formed as a joint venture of police agencies in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. It was formed in 2006 and is composed of members of the Delta Police Department, the Abbotsford Police Department, the...
Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit - British Columbia (CFSEU-BC)
- Integrated Illegal Gaming Enforcement Team
- Integrated Municipal Provincial Auto Crimes Team (IMPACT)
- Integrated National Security Enforcement Teams
Violence Suppression Team
South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority Police Service (SCBCTAPS) – Created in 2005 to police the TransLink transit system, the SCBCTAPS is the only transit police agency in Canada with full police powers.

Municipal police

Abbotsford Police Department
Abbotsford Police Department
Abbotsford Police Department is the police force for the City of Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada. The force was established in 1955 as the Matsqui Police Department and was renamed the Abbotsford Police Department when Matsqui and Abbotsford amalgamated in 1995 to become the City of Abbotsford...

Formed as the Matsqui Police Department in 1955, the department was renamed in 1995 following the amalgamation of Matsqui and Abbotsford into the City of Abbotsford
Abbotsford, British Columbia
Abbotsford is a Canadian city located in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, adjacent to Greater Vancouver. It is the fifth largest municipality in British Columbia, home to 123,864 people . Its Census Metropolitan Area, which includes the District of Mission, is the 23rd largest in Canada,...

. The strength of the force in 2005 was 201.
Central Saanich Police Service (CSPS) Established in 1951, the CSPS has gone from one member to a strength of 27 in 2007, including one detective. Its headquarters are in Saanichton
Saanichton, British Columbia
Saanichton, British Columbia is a village, in the municipality of Central Saanich, located between Victoria and the BC Ferry Terminal, west of the Pat Bay Highway , at the junction of Mount Newton Cross Road and East Saanich Road.-Climate:...

neighbourhood of the Central Saanich
Central Saanich, British Columbia
Central Saanich is a district municipality in Greater Victoria and a member municipality of the Capital Regional District. It is located on the Saanich Peninsula. The district began as a farming community, and many hobby farms, along with a handful of small working farms and vineyards, still exist...

district municipality in Greater Victoria
Greater Victoria, British Columbia
Greater Victoria is located in British Columbia, Canada, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. It is a cultural rather than political entity, usually defined as the thirteen easternmost municipalities of the Capital Regional District on Vancouver Island but also includes adjoining areas and...

.
Delta Police Department
Delta Police Department
The Delta Police Department is the police force for the district municipality of Delta, British Columbia, a suburban community in Metro Vancouver with a population of 102,661...
Nelson Police Department
Nelson Police Department
The Nelson Police Department is the police force for the City of Nelson, British Columbia, Canada.Among the oldest police services in British Columbia, the force came into being as a municipal police force on April 17, 1897. The initial force only consisted of a Chief Constable and one Constable...
New Westminster Police Service
New Westminster Police Service
The New Westminster Police Service is the police force for the City of New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada.The force was created in 1873 when the city council hired Jonathan Morey, a former sergeant with the Royal Engineers, Columbia detachment who stayed behind after the detachment was...
Oak Bay Police Department
Port Moody Police Department
Port Moody Police Department
The Port Moody Police Department is the police force for the City of Port Moody, British Columbia.-Controversy:On July 14, 2003, the PMPD came under the spotlight when one of their veteran officers shot dead Keyvan Tabesh, an 18-years old Iranian teen when he held a machete and ran towards the...
Saanich Police Department
Saanich Police Department
The Saanich Police Department is the police force for the District of Saanich, British Columbia led by Chief Constable Mike Chadwick consisting of 149 sworn members, supported by 50 civilians and 35 volunteer Reserve Constables....
Vancouver Police Department
Vancouver Police Department
The Vancouver Police Department is the police force for the City of Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several police departments within the Metro Vancouver Area and is the second largest police force in the province after RCMP "E" Division.VPD was the first Canadian police force...
Victoria Police Department
Victoria Police Department
Victoria Police Department is the municipal police force for the City of Victoria and the Township of Esquimalt, British Columbia, Canada. It is the oldest municipal police department in Canada west of the Great Lakes, the first Canadian law enforcement agency to deploy Tasers and creating the...
West Vancouver Police Department
West Vancouver Police Department
West Vancouver Police Department is a police force for the district municipality of West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.-Organization:...

Aboriginal police
Aboriginal Police in Canada
Aboriginal Police in Canada are police forces responsible for public order on First Nations across Canada.The national government created First Nations police forces for greater sensitivity to the First Nations. Past conflicts, with some deaths, have created tension between non-aboriginal police...

Stl’atl’imx Tribal Police Service (STPS) – The STPS was created in 1992. It operated as a pilot project for the next several years, with its officers sworn in as special constables. In 1999, it became a fully empowered police agency responsible for ten participating Stl'atl'imx
St'at'imc
The St'át'imc are an Interior Salish people located in the southern Coast Mountains and Fraser Canyon region of the Interior of the Canadian province of British Columbia.St'át'imc culture displayed many features typical of Northwest Coast peoples: the...

communities. It operates out of the Lillooet
Lillooet, British Columbia
Lillooet is a community on the Fraser River in western Canada, about up the British Columbia Railway line from Vancouver. Situated at an intersection of deep gorges in the lee of the Coast Mountains, it has a dry climate- of precipitation is recorded annually at the town's weather station,...

Detachment and the Mount Currie
Mount Currie, British Columbia
Mount Currie is a small community in British Columbia, 164 kilometres north-west of Vancouver and 40 kilometres north-west of Whistler along Highway 99....

Detachment.

Historical agencies

British Columbia Provincial Police
British Columbia Provincial Police
The British Columbia Provincial Police was the policing body for the Canadian province of British Columbia until 1950. The force is usually dated from the appointment of Chartres Brew in 1858 with the formation of the Colony of British Columbia and associated appointments...

(BCPP) This was the provincial police force of BC from 1871 until 1950, when it was absorbed into the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...

. Its predecessor was the Colonial Constabulary.

Organized Crime Agency of British Columbia
Organized Crime Agency of British Columbia
The Organized Crime Agency of British Columbia was a Crown corporation created as a 'Designated Policing and Law Enforcement Unit' regulated by the British Columbia Police Act and the British Columbia Emergency Program Act...

(OCABC) Established as an independent law enforcement agency in 1999, the mandate of the OCABC is to “facilitate the disruption and suppression of organized crime” which has since become the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of British Columbia
Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of British Columbia
The Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit - British Columbia was established in 2004 to facilitate the disruption and suppression of organized crime in BC and to support municipal police department when public safety is deemed to be a priority...

.

External links

British Columbia Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General
British Columbia, Police International.com