Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

LETHBRIDGE CITY POLICE

Date Range From

1960

Date Range To

1970

Materials

PLASTIC, NICKEL

No. Pieces

1

Height

2.3

Length

42.2

Width

2.1

Description

BLACK PLASTIC WHISTLE ATTACHED TO A NICKEL CHAIN LANYARD WITH A HOOK ON THE END. WHISTLE IS VERY WORN, WITH GREEN BUILDUP ON THE SURFACE.

Subjects

SOUND COMMUNICATION T&E

Historical Association

SAFETY SERVICES

History

USED BY THE CITY OF LETHBRIDGE POLICE SERVICES DURING THE 1960'S APPROX. BETWEEN 2008 AND 2009, RET. LETHBRIDGE POLICE CHIEF TERRY WAUTERS CLAIMED THAT THE POLICE WHISTLE WAS “USED BY FOOT PATROL OFFICERS TO DRAW ATTENTION TO OFFENDERS SUCH AS JAY WALKERS, PEDESTRIANS WALKING AGAINST TRAFFIC LIGHTS, ETC..” *NOTE* AS OF 9 NOVEMBER 2007, COLLECTIONS STAFF BELIEVE THIS OBJECT HAS BEEN CATALOGUED TWICE UNDER NUMBERS P19960112034 AND P19960112002. TECHNICALLY, THEREFORE, THIS OBJECT ASSOCIATED WITH THIS RECORD NEVER EXISTED. ADDITIONALLY, THE ARTIFACT IS LABELLED WITH THE TWO DIFFERENT NUMBERS - ONE ON THE LANYARD HOOK AND THE OTHER ON THE WHISTLE BODY. *UPDATE* IN 2014 COLLECTIONS ASSISTANT JANE EDMUNDSON CONDUCTED A SURVEY OF ART OBJECTS, INCLUDING SOME DONATED BY THE CITY OF LETHBRIDGE POLICE SERVICES. FOR A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE LETHBRIDGE POLICE COLLECTION, SEE RECORD P19960112001. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THE CITY OF LETHBRIDGE POLICE SERVICES AND TRANSCRIPTS OF INTERVIEWS AND CORRESPONDENCE WITH CURRENT AND FORMER LETHBRIDGE POLICE, SEE PERMANENT FILE P19960112000. **UPDATE: GALT CURATOR TYLER STEWART CONDUCTED AN INTERVIEW WITH RETIRED LETHBRIDGE POLICE SERVICES MEMBER BILL PLOMP ON 25 AUGUST 2022 AS PART OF HIS DEVELOPMENT OF HIS 2022 EXHIBITION ‘THE POLITICS OF SOUND’. SAID PLOMP GENERALLY OF THE PLASTIC POLICE WHISTLE GENERALLY (NOT PERSONALLY HIS) AT THE GALT: “I THINK [I WALKED THE BEAT] EIGHT/NINE YEARS (1963 – 1971)…WHEN YOU STARTED YOUR SHIFT IN THE MORNING OR IN THE AFTERNOON OR WHENEVER, YOUR NIGHT, YOU ALWAYS HAD INSPECTION AND THE SERGEANT COME AROUND, HE’D CHECK YOUR WHISTLE CHAIN… [AND] WHEN YOU WERE ON POINT PATROL (ALSO KNOWN AS “POINT DUTY”) - SPECIFICALLY ON 4TH AVENUE AND 6TH STREET, WHICH WAS A BUSY INTERSECTION THEN - …WE HAD A [DIAGONAL] CROSS(ING) [THERE] WHERE THE LIGHTS WOULD GO AND YOU COULD CROSS WHICHEVER WAY YOU WANTED SO YOU USED YOUR WHISTLE THERE FOR THE CHANGING OF LIGHTS OR IF YOU WERE DIRECTING TRAFFIC. IN ADDITION TO THE WHISTLE’S PRIMARY USE ON POINT DUTY, PLOMP ADDED: “THERE WAS INSTRUCTION AT ONE TIME THAT YOU COULD USE YOUR WHISTLE TO TRY AND GET HELP YOU KNOW. I DON’T KNOW IF YOU COULD BLOW IT LOUD ENOUGH TO GET YOUR BROTHER CONSTABLE THAT WAS ON THE EAST BEAT TO COME RUNNING TO THE WEST BEAT BUT I’M THINKING THERE MAY BE…WITH THE ADVENT OF THE RADIO OF COURSE THEN YOU HAD BETTER MEANS OF DOING THAT.” ON THE WHISTLE’S NO LONGER BEING STANDARD ISSUE, PLOMP STATED: “I THINK IT WAS PROBABLY ’68, ’69 SOMEWHERE IN THERE THAT WE GOT OUR FIRST RADIOS AND I THINK THAT THE [PLASTIC] WHISTLE SORT OF WENT TO THE TOP DRAWER AFTER THAT.” THE INTERVIEW AND A FULL TRANSCRIPT OF THE INTERVIEW CAN BE FOUND ON PERMANENT FILE.

Catalogue Number

P19960112002

Acquisition Date

1996

Collection

Museum

Less detail