Charles O. Bick (1909–1994) was the first chairman of the Metropolitan Toronto Board of Police Commissioners, the civilian body which oversaw the

Metropolitan Toronto Police Force The Toronto Police Service (TPS) is a municipal police force in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the primary agency responsible for providing law enforcement and policing services in Toronto. Established in 1834, it was the first local police se ...

. He coined the service's slogan "To Serve and Protect"."OBITUARY / Charles O. Bick 'Father' of Metro police" by Donn Downey, ''Globe and Mail'', 2 December 1994 An

optometrist Optometry is the healthcare practice concerned with examining the eyes for visual defects, prescribing corrective lenses, and detecting eye abnormalities. In the United States and Canada, optometrists are those that hold a post-baccalaureate f ...

by profession, Bick was appointed to head the new body by Metropolitan Toronto Chairman

Fred Gardiner Frederick Goldwin Gardiner, (January 21, 1895 – August 21, 1983) was a Canadian politician, lawyer and businessman. He was the first chairman of Metropolitan Toronto council, the governing body for the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto, ...

in 1955 to oversee the amalgamation of the thirteen separate police forces that existed prior to the formation of

Metropolitan Toronto The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto was an upper-tier level of municipal government in Ontario, Canada, from 1953 to 1998. It was made up of the old city of Toronto and numerous townships, towns and villages that surrounded Toronto, whic ...

. Bick initially met resistance as he was seen as an outsider with no background in policing and he clashed with police chief John Chisholm, particularly over questions of authority. Bick asserted that "under the Police Act, the control of the police department is in the hands of the commission," not the chief. Chisolm was unable to cope with the strain of managing the merging of thirteen separate police departments and committed suicide in

High Park High Park is a municipal park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. High Park is a mixed recreational and natural park, with sporting facilities, cultural facilities, educational facilities, gardens, playgrounds and a zoo. One-third of the park remains ...

in 1958."Politics of policing the police; In Toronto board's 47-year history, tensions often flared up Latest row pales beside battle between first chair and chief" by Betsy Powell, ''Toronto Star'', 31 May 2004 Bick remained chairman for 21 years until his retirement in 1977. In order to meet the criteria to hold his office under the Ontario Police Act at the time he was appointed a

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...

and then a county court judge. Bick advocated more training for police officers -

Charles O. Bick College Charles O. Bick College was a police college operated by the Training and Education unit of the Toronto Police Service to train various levels of police from new recruits to senior managers. The facility was accredited by the Ministry of Communi ...

, the Toronto Police training facility from 1977 to 2009, was named after him. Bick also used his position as police commission chairman to advance his ideas around law enforcement and the public good. He advocated the police sending people arrested for drunkenness to

detoxification Detoxification or detoxication (detox for short) is the physiological or medicinal removal of toxic substances from a living organism, including the human body, which is mainly carried out by the liver. Additionally, it can refer to the period o ...

centres and calling for a public boycott of stores which sold pornography saying that they "weaken the moral fibre of society" and are "a major cause of juvenile crime." Nevertheless, he was an opponent of censorship. He also advocated stricter

gun control Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms and ammunition by civilians. Most countries allow civilians to own firearms, bu ...

laws. He was born in

Cannington, Ontario Cannington is a community in Brock Township, Durham Region, Ontario, Canada. The town is on the Beaver River. History Originally part of the original Brock Township, (historic map) Cannington was first settled in 1833. It was first known as ...

and graduated from the Ontario College of Optometry in Toronto in 1932. After working for an optometry office on Yonge Street for several years, he purchased the business in 1937. Bick entered municipal politics and was elected to the town council of the Village of Forest Hill in 1949 succeeding Gardiner as reeve in 1953, the year it was incorporated into the new municipality of Metropolitan Toronto.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bick, Charles O. 1909 births 1994 deaths Chairs of the Toronto Police Services Board Judges in Ontario Metropolitan Toronto councillors Canadian optometrists People from Toronto People from Brock, Ontario Canadian magistrates 20th-century mayors of places in Ontario