John Stolarski’s Old Newspaper Clippings

April 8, 2015

With the exception of his first two years in the Force, John Stolarski spent his entire career as a Police Dog Services handler.

Throughout this career, John clipped newspaper articles about members who he had worked with.

Despite the fact that John has passed away, his family has agreed for us to re-post these articles for the interest of RCMP Veterans and current members of the Force.

PUBLIC’S COOPERATION PLEASES INSPECTOR

Photograph of Inspector T.M. Gardiner (Reg.#17296 – O.627)

Inspector T.M. Gardiner (Reg.#17296 – O.627), “Scotty” to his friends, and he has made many since his arrival in Sydney as Officer Commanding Sydney Sub-Division Royal Canadian Mounted Police, is leaving today.

He will report to Edmonton in his new post as Assistant Criminal Investigations Officer for the Province of Alberta on July 24. His duties in K-Division will be to supervise all major crime investigations and act as liaison with the Attorney General of the province in the Edmonton area.

As OC of the Sydney Sub Division “H” he was responsible for a number of administrative duties which he is leaving. In his new post he will devote full time to crime detection, analysis and investigation.

Inspector Gardiner is noted within the RCMP for his development of crime prevention techniques, recently having had published in the RCMP Gazette a definitive study of Crime Prevention.

“We started it here in Sydney about a year before it was begun in London, England,” Insp. Gardiner said yesterday.

Born in Argo, Saskatchewan 41 years ago he returned to his father’s home in Scotland at the age of five when the family left Canada. He came back within family following the second world war at the age of 17. The family settled in British Columbia.

He joined the RCMP in 1951 at Vancouver and has served in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario.

He gained his commission in the force in 1966 and commanded a sub division in Regina. He came to Sydney from RCMP Headquarters in Ottawa where he had been working with finance and administration.

He commented on the four happy years he has spent in Cape Breton and the “basic friendliness of the people.”

His previous experience of the Maritimes was when, in 1959, as one of four RCMP personal orderlies to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip, he toured Canada. Of that duty, he represented the prairies.

He said the Cap Breton community spirit is very good. “You are not subjected here to the main stream of anti-social traffic. But I wouldn’t want Cape Bretoners to become complacent with the attitude that it can’t happen here.” No community in Canada is immune.

He commented on the good rapport he has found with National Parks personnel, with CFS Sydney and the Canadian Coast Guard College.

“The public has always been ready to assist in searches and I could list many instances were the people of the community have supported our cause. We have established an exchange that is very close to the ideal of joint effort, with public and police working together.”

Inspector Gardiner had also a good word for all news media in the area which showed an appreciation of the need for restriction at times. he found the media fully co-operative in helping the force do its work.

He is pleased to hear of approval for a new police building in Port Hawkesbury, and that the public, and his own technicians, have been able to establish the radio network which makes the Zenith telephone system so helpful.

“I am leaving what I feel is a good ship,” he said of the force he commands.

“It has always been my objective to apply human understanding to every decision,” Inspector Gardiner said.

Inspector Niedzwiecki will take over in Sydney after completing his duties in Prince Edward Island.

NOTE: Scotty Gardiner was later promoted to Superintendent and retired in “E” Division as the CIBO for District #2 in Victoria on April 30, 1983. In retirement, he went on to become the Assistant to the BC Ombudsman then to the investigation services for the BC Attorney General. In 2010, Thomas authored a book entitled “In The Mind Of A Mountie.”

Photograph of the book cover entitled “In The Mind of A Mountie” by T.M. ‘Scotty’ Gardiner.

INSPECTS CADETS

Photograph – Inspector T.M. Gardiner, officer commanding RCMP headquarters in Sydney, last night carried out his annual inspection of the Sydney Kinsmen Sea Cadet Corps No.2. Here accompanied by Major N.J. Massillon, cadet corps commanding officer, Inspector Gardiner chats with Leading Cadet Ronald Whalen. The sea cadet corps is preparing for its annual inspection scheduled for May 20 at Victoria Park.

MAN CAPTURED AFTER GUN BATTLE

October 9, 1966 – Sidney, B.C. – A prisoner was shot and an RCMP officer narrowly escaped death when a 25-year-old man locked himself in a police station early Sunday and held off a dozen policemen for 15 minutes before he was captured at gun-point.

William McCauley, 66, a jail guard, shot in the left thigh as he ran to a telephone in the station to summon help, was in good condition in hospital at the Vancouver Island community Monday.

Police said McCauley, on duty alone tending three prisoners in the cells, went to the stations’s front door when heard a knock.

When he opened the door, a man stood on the porch holding a .22-calibre rifle. McCauley slammed the door and ran to a telephone but was shot in the thigh from a rifle aimed through a window.

Police arrived at the station five minutes later after a call from an unidentified passerby who heard shots coming from the station. First on the scene was RCMP Const. R.R. Bouck.

Const. Bouck had just left the car to approach the station when a bullet narrowly missed his face.

The RCMP officer ran back to his car, dodging three more shots and called for police reinforcements from nearby Saanich and Victoria.

Two officers entered the station with a tracking dog a few minutes later and found the man hiding in a washroom in the basement. The rifle was propped up on a corner and he offered no resistance.

Kenneth Wayne Ingram, 25, of Sidney, was to appear today in Victoria magistrate’s court on three charges of attempted murder and one of breaking and entering.

NOTE: Bob Bouck would later rise to the rank of Staff Sergeant and retired on July 6, 1994 as the NCO ic Quesnel Detachment.

RCMP BALL

Photograph – Among the guests attending the annual Royal Canadian Mounted Police Ball recently held at the Eastern Institute of Technology were, left to right: Const. and Mrs. John Clark, Mrs. and Const. Jack Cowan, Miss Alanna Cleary and Const. Robert Braund.