O.p.p.

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The Ontario Provincial Police (O.P.P.) (French: Police provinciale de l'Ontario) is the Provincial Police force for the province of Ontario, Canada.


Overview
The OPP is the largest deployed police force in Ontario and the second largest in Canada. The service is responsible for providing policing services throughout the province in areas lacking local police forces.

It also provides specialized support to smaller municipal police forces, investigates provincewide and cross-jurisdictional crimes, patrols provincial highways (including Ontario's 400-Series Highways) and is responsible for many of the waterways in the province. The OPP also works with other provincial agencies, including the Ministry of Transportation and Ministry of Natural Resources to enforce highway safety and conservation regulations, respectively.

Finally, OPP officers provide security at the Ontario Legislature at Queen's Park in Toronto.
The OPP is one of three provincial police forces in Canada. The others are the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary in Newfoundland and Labrador and the Sûreté du Québec in Quebec.
History


OPP Headquarters



Old Ontario Provincial Police Headquarters

At the First Parliament of Upper Canada on September 17, 1792, at Niagara-on-the-Lake, provision was made for the formation of a 'police system'.

In 1871, four years after Confederation, the Constables' Act extended jurisdiction and gave designated police members authorization to act throughout the province. The first salaried Provincial Constable appointed to act as Detective for the Government of Ontario was John Wilson Murray (1840-1906), hired in 1875.Murray was joined by two additional detectives in 1897, marking the beginnings of the Criminal Investigation Branch. However, for the most part, policing outside of Ontario's cities was non-existent.
With the discovery of silver in Cobalt and gold in Timmins, lawlessness was increasingly becoming a problem in northern Ontario.

Police constables were gradually introduced in various areas, until an Order-In-Council decreed the establishment of a permanent organization of salaried constables designated as The Ontario Provincial Police on October 13, 1909. detachment was located in Bala, Ontario.
In 1921, restructuring was undertaken with the passing of the Provincial Police Force Act.

The title of the commanding officer was changed to Commissioner and given responsibility for enforcing the provisions of the Ontario Temperance Act and other liquor regulations. Rogers, who was later killed in a shootout with O.P.P.

officers, had already mortally wounded North Bay City Constable Fred Lefebvre.
The first O.P.P. motorcycle patrol was introduced in 1928, phased out in 1942 and then reintroduced in 1949.Contrary to popular belief, the Detective ranks fall laterally with the uniform ranks and is not a promotion above.
Cadet - A special placement for those attempting to become a fulltime OPP constable. The Cadet program is currently under review.
Constable (Detective Constable) - Beginning from 4th Class up to 1st Class (for payscale only), this is the common rank of the OPP.
Senior Constable - This rank is no longer used within the OPP.
Sergeant (Detective Sergeant)(Traffic Sergeant)
Staff Sergeant (Detective Staff Sergeant)(Traffic Staff Sergeant)
Sergeant Major (Highest 'non-commissioned' rank)
Inspector (Detective Inspector)
Superintendent
Chief Superintendent
Deputy Commissioner ---Another title used is * Provincial Commander
Commissioner - this is the title of the head of the force

Auxiliary Program
The OPP has among its many initiatives an auxiliary program.

The Ontario Provincial Police Auxiliary program follows a mission statement: “To provide fully trained volunteer Auxiliary Members to perform police duties in special circumstances, including emergencies, when there are not sufficient O.P.P. auxiliary is a volunteer program where selected citizens receive special training in order to perform many duties such as community policing initiatives and projects, regular patrol, crime and disaster scenes, large gatherings or parades for crowd and traffic control, and traffic control at accidents. The Ontario Provincial Police auxiliary program is the only such Canadian program that requires its auxiliary constables to attend a full time recruit course conducted near its regular training facility in Orillia,.

The program may also serve as a stepping stone for potential future employment. Auxiliary has an authorised strength of over 900 auxiliary constables and is the largest police auxiliary unit in Canada.
Superintendents and Commissioners of the OPP
Further information: Commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police
Fleet


The OPP's first squad car.

In 2007, the OPP announced that it would return to a black-and-white colour scheme for its police cruisers.Historically, the force had used black-and-white vehicles from the introduction of the first marked police cars in 1941 to 1989 when all-white cars with blue and gold striping were introduced.

The change will be implemented starting in March 2007 and should be complete by 2009. Harley Davidson FL motorcycles are used for traffic patrol in the summer months.*677 (star OPP) performs the same function for cell phones, but does not work with all cell phone providers.
OPP in pop culture
The Beatles folklore
The Beatles's 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band contains cover art with Paul McCartney wearing an OPP patch on his fictional uniform (more easily seen in the gatefold picture).

The group was being transferred to a police van for the trip to the airport.
Many "Paul Is Dead" enthusiasts have misread the patch as "OPD" (the way the patch was slightly bent on McCartney's sleeve in the gatefold picture, the bottom of the "P" was not visible) and took it to mean "Officially Pronounced Dead."
Habbo Hotel
On the online social networking website Habbo Hotel Canada, O.P.P. officer talks to the users within the bus about cyberbullying and online safety.

officer holding the session users staff specific tools to ask questions to the whole bus so a more direct answer can be given. officers Habbo account is also given moderation powers to control the bus behaviour.

(CAA relates to the badge code used when uploading into the badge directory for the Hotels.