Bruce Clarke, Saturday 24 January 1970 Bruce Clarke was the first black officer to join the Vancouver Police Department. His coworkers referred to  him as “Dark Clarke” to distinguish him from the other Bruce Clarke on the force. UPDATE: A couple people pointed out that Joe Fortes was the first black cop. Fortes was made a Special Constable because of his role as the lifeguard at English Bay, though his authority would’ve been limited and he wasn’t on the VPD’s payroll. (Specials were frequently used to break strikes, and today their role is limited to to directing traffic during special events). As far as I know, the first non-white officer was a Japanese man named Raiichi Shirokawa. He was hired in 1917, but didn’t last long because of the uproar from Japantown alleging he was just a stool pigeon hired to spy on them. The first Chinese officer was hired in 1967. Source: Vancouver Sun
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Bruce Clarke, Saturday 24 January 1970

Bruce Clarke was the first black officer to join the Vancouver Police Department. His coworkers referred to  him as “Dark Clarke” to distinguish him from the other Bruce Clarke on the force.

UPDATE: A couple people pointed out that Joe Fortes was the first black cop. Fortes was made a Special Constable because of his role as the lifeguard at English Bay, though his authority would’ve been limited and he wasn’t on the VPD’s payroll. (Specials were frequently used to break strikes, and today their role is limited to to directing traffic during special events). As far as I know, the first non-white officer was a Japanese man named Raiichi Shirokawa. He was hired in 1917, but didn’t last long because of the uproar from Japantown alleging he was just a stool pigeon hired to spy on them. The first Chinese officer was hired in 1967.

Source: Vancouver Sun

Source: news.google.com

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