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bruce crawford economist suntribune january 29 1986 a5 retiring police chief ruled roost his way by john lott special to economist sun ok bruce crawford you know what they say about you they use words like tyrant and dictator they call you stubborn pompous belligerent and worse- i know whats been said the police chief replies they say hes a shitdisturber that craw ford hes an arrogant sob well what about it tyrant no im not a tyrant at all he says evenly dictator i dont entirely dis agree with that its a slight exag geration but theres some merit to that the boss has to be dictatorial the man at the top has to make the decisions he has to say this is the way its going to be bruce crawford is nothing if not blunt his hardnosed gunslinger style raised hackles almost from the day he rode in from metro to become york regions top cop 15 years ago he fought with politi cians clashed with the press and ruled the police force with an iron hand but this week as he starts re tirement at age 60 he doesnt take any of it back he did what he had to do and he says he did it well yorks roads are safer its crime rate is the lowest in cana da and york regional police pro tection is the best buy in ontario mr crawford says problems within force i if you look back over my 15 years i never had any trouble with the people of york i never had any trouble handing crime my problems have always come from within the force and in the early years from the elected people and yes despite his toughguy image he was wounded by the cri ticism the attacks from within the police force which escalated over the last two years hurts more than anything he says back in the early 1970s mr crawford admits he was some times cocky and looking for a fight but during his final years as chief hed lost his zest for battle id had too much of it i began to feel like a boxer punchy on saturday feb 1 his retire ment becomes official he leaves as he arrived 15 years ago an out sider a loner if bruce crawford were to write his autobiography hed probably portray himself as a tragic hero and hed call the book my way controversial figure i couldnt be anything but con troversial he says because of the things i had to do out of the pressurecooker at last bruce crawford lowers his big frame into a soft chair by a window in the family room of his king township home while a sleepy english sheepdog sprawls in a corner outside by the bird feeder on the lawn two blue jays screech at each other the way mr crawford and police commis sioner ray twinney used to spar over radar enforcement in the 1970s he seems relaxed over the years hed granted countless in terviews many of which he re gretted the reporting is lousy up here in york he says but at home on this grey winter morn ing he seems less wary perhaps even a bit vulnerable his policies gave york resi dents firstclass police protec tion he says yet he seldom made news unless someone was criticiz ing him it would have been nice if someone over the years had said youre an odd sob chief but youve done a good job mr crawford is proud of his 40- year police career which began late in 1945 after two years in the royal canadian navy as a young constable he patrolled the keele- eglinton area of york township where he was born and raised he was a good young cop and he was lucky piling up eight com- the facts on bruce crawford born in york township in 1925 bruce crawford attended york memorial col legiate insitute and served two years in the royal cana dian navy before starting his 40year police career in 1945 crawford became york re gions first police chief in 1971 when the regions population was 150000 his starting sal ary 21500 the force had 200 men and a budget of 23 mil lion last year yorks 400person department had a 217- million budget to serve a population of 324000 craw fords 1985 salary 81058 crawford was recently named a special consultant to the international association of chiefs of police he and his wife violet have been married for 35 years they have two sons and a daughter in his retirement he and his wife plan to travel he likes deepsea fishing when the sea is calm and he says hes looking for a job mendations in his first six years everything just seemed to fall in my lap he recalls like the time in the late 40s when he caught up with a car that had run a red light and discovered the occupants had just robbed a bank or the time he stopped a suspiciouslooking driver who handed him a bloody knife and announced i just killed my wife after york township became part of the amalgamated metro politan toronto police in 1957 de tective bruce crawford was assigned to the court street sta- tion in downtown toronto where the action was and rose quickly through the ranks he was sergeant of detectives when he left in 1966 to become one of the architects of the new port of toronto police force the first of its kind in north america after two years as deputy chief he was named chief of the port police but the job lost its chal lenge before long there just wasnt enough to do he says so on dec 28 1970 he came to newmarket for a job interview york regions new police com mission hired him the same day he had no headquarters no office and three days to get ready to lead the newest municipal police force in ontario his mandate was simple he re calls to create a firstclass effective police force his raw material 14 small folksy police departments one for each of the former towns and townships in york county plus 14 police chiefs before mr crawford was hired the incumbent chiefs had their own ideas about who should sit where in the new regime natur ally their plans did not include a hotshot hired gun from the big city we had to bring in an outsid er says gordon cook a member of yorks police commission for its first 10 years we had to bring together 14 police forces the job needed a very strong person and a very strong leader ironfisted rule four months into the first year mr crawford reclassified the for- mer chiefs one former vaughan chief bill shimmin became a deputy chief while the others were given ranks ranging from inspector down to constable that tough task completed the new chief started the long process of making the york force his own his first priority was to start weeding out the policemen who didnt meet his metro standards bruce crawford 1971 a new chief takes over bruce crawford 40 years on the job some he says never should have been cops in the first place the culling process wasnt very easy and it wasnt very nice he re calls i didnt enjoy it but i was hired to do it it was my job he knew the job yould make him a sitting duck for criticism often the smalltown cops were friends of the smalltown politi cians many of whom resented or feared regional government the new police force was the most visible sign that a new broom was sweeping through old york county and big blunt bruce crawford was the clearest target mr crawford weathered many controversies in yorks formative years reclassification of chiefs and sergeants a headquarters crisis budget battles but none rivalled the radar ruckus that started in 1971 and erupted spor adically for the next seven years classic conflict it was a classic conflict pitting mr crawford against ray twin ney the gunslinger vs the god father mr crawford argued that he had to crack down on speeding drivers because york had the worst record of traffic deaths in ontario police commissioner twinney retorted that the chief was overzealous forcing his men to harass responsible drivers leaving his officers no discretion when mr crawford and mr twinney squared off fur flew and bold headlines followed mr twinney now newmar kets mayor was then the towns regional councillor and a regional appointee to the police commis sion his godfather nickname was a local joke and one mr twinney enjoyed like the chief mr twinney fa vored plain talk in one 1977 news paper account he blasted mr crawfords rigid radar policy and called the chief a dictator mr crawford countered by curtly inviting mr twinney to prove his accusations or quit the commis sion mr crawford vigorously de fends his radar policy it saved lives he says in one year in the 70s the highway death toll fell from 53 to 24 after the chief lo wered the boom mr twinneys policeforce pipeline kept him informed of cops complaints against the chief and spawned charges of a recur ring morale problem among the rank and file mr crawford replied that his force had no morale problem morale in york was typical of major police forces everywhere he said now the regions longest- serving police commissioner mr twinney looks back on mr craw fords performance with mixed feelings its been proven that he did an excellent job overall mr twin ney said in an interview last week but right to the end of mr cra w- fords term mr twinney had three serious concerns about the police force one was staff morale a police force doesnt have to be treated like an army mr twinney says in reference to mr crawfords style the second was the police atti tude toward people in the 1720 age group our police often tre ated kids like secondclass citizens he says the third police are too aloof from the citizens mr twinney says they should get to know the people in the areas where they work hillock takes over mr twinney says new chief don hillock has assured the com mission he will deal with those issues mr hillock a deputy chief under mr crawford has been a policeman for 25 years all in york region the board of police commis sioners is the chiefs boss but de spite occasional opposition bruce crawford usually had his way with the commission he may have been too regimental at times gordon cook recalls but he had the commissions respect bruce crawford really knew police work mr cook says mr crawford didnt lose many arguments as yorks police chief his critics would reply that he was insensitive to opposing views and too stubborn to admit he was wrong but says his critics even his own officers often mis understood his motives misinter preted his manner and ignored his results im not hard to reach im ac cessible but im not terribly re sponsive im not connable and this is why i think i have the trou ble with the men in the force they cant con me ive been through all that theyre going through and i know when theyre conning me and when theyre not i cant be conned i hate being with anybody attempting to con me gordon cook who worked with mr crawford for a decade says theehief did his job with great dignity and honor mr crawford may have been a lightning rod for criticism in york region but among his peers worldwide he is highly respected mr cooks says for eight years mr crawford was the only canadian on the ex ecutive of the international asso ciation of chiefs of police that organization recently appointed him as a special consultant back home in york the public respected bruce crawford mr cook says they didnt always agree with him but they re spected him as he looks back on his years as chief mr crawford says he sometimes wonders if it was all worth it he considered quitting hundreds of times he says he has no grandiose farewell statements about the intangible rewards of police work and he re peats a comment that he made a year ago he wouldnt take the job again for 10 million but then he says i dont make any apologies to anybody for what ive done over the years i was given a mandate to do a job and i did it and the results have been good ive made mistakes but the nice feeling is that i did it my way and i won like frank sinatra you know you have to admit i did it my way harts your chance to decorate your heme or office with a truly unlqua tropical plant canaa up to 6 tall with tupar large heads ol lush shiny green tollage complete with your choice ol wicker pot cover or 18 contemporary planter iter special reo 14999 colourful an hoton 0r false thalia both tropicals come complete with your choice ol bac bac basket or 12 decorator planter choice mac bac covers 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