Manitoba's Finest (Manitoba Provincial Police‪)‬

It may come as a surprise to many that Manitoba once had a provincial police force. Indeed, at one time or another every province had one, but only Ontario and Quebec still retain them. The RCMP has taken over provincial duties in all other provinces. Formed in 1870 as the "Mounted Constabulary Force," the Manitoba Provincial Police (MPP) served Manitoba for sixty-one years, ending in 1932 with its absorption by the RCMP. Only the British Columbia Provincial Police were organized earlier (1858). The first "Chief of Police for Manitoba" was Frank Villiers, who had served as a quartermaster with the 1870 Wolseley Expedition. He established a force of twenty-four men to police the province and serve the new courts in the handling and escort of prisoners. These first policemen were paid $30 a month for Sergeants, $25 for Corporals, and $20 for "Troopers." An old post office building on Main Street, not far from Upper Fort Garry, was fitted up as a police station and courthouse with a log house to the rear transformed into a jail. Initially, constables were deployed in Winnipeg, Portage la Prairie, Pointe de Chiene (Oak Point), St. Norbert, and Lower Fort Garry but as Winnipeg grew larger, the men were stationed almost exclusively there. Villiers soon came under attack by the Attorney-General of Manitoba, being accused of "irregularities and defalcations connected with his discharge of the duties of his office." He was dismissed in 1872.