The people who came out include: @mojaveband, @gusf, @russbystarlite, @abc4, @gusgreeper, @staciebee, @rott1058, @bluey037, @emmerogers, @trishussey, @raincoaster, @hummingbird604, @dale42, @atomicfez, @jonjennings, @tofufighting, @anthonyfloyd, @owlex, @jpadamson, @johnbiehler, @mdiane_rogers, @JenniferPriest, @faustsid67 and @petequily. Also, @thedarkerside and @operagal19 joined us later at the Irish Heather (@theirishheather). (I’m sure we’ve missed someone… sorry!)

Image by John Biehler. Some rights reserved.

Rather than duplicate the work of others, we’ll just point you to what others are saying about the tour. Hummingbird604, a fantastic local blogger, has already posted his impressions, along with a great little video. Dale McGladdery and Corrina Carlson have also posted his thoughts and included a number of great photos from the event.

Stacie Biehler,  John Biehler,  Ian A. Martin, Jon Jennings, and Corrina Carlson have all uploaded photosets from the event to Flickr.

Thanks to everyone for a fantastic event! I look forward to seeing you all at the next one.

(This post will continue to be updated as additional blog posts or photosets come online from our Tweetup. If you know of something we’ve missed, let us know in the comments below.)

The next day, we received a phone call from someone who said they’d seen the interview on TV and were wondering if we’d like some more information about her father. Turns out, her father was Detective Ricci and she had boxes and boxes of newspaper clippings about her father’s incredible career as a police officer.

Ricci was no ordinary officer; he was a minor celebrity in Vancouver, mentioned in the newspaper once or twice a week for another one of his exploits busting the gambling dens, opium houses and brothels in Chinatown.  (See our previous blog entry Stalwart Defenders of the City’s Morals go Beyond the Call for more information on Ricci and his partner Det. Sinclair).

Over the next few months, we’ll be pouring through those newspaper clippings and other personal information; many of these stories will be added to the Sins of the City tour this summer, for sure! Down the road, you might even see a book published from this.

“The truth is not always pleasing–and it is the truth that during the last ten years the drug evil has required more strenuous handling by the Force in Vancouver than in any preceding years…The illicit drug traffickers of Vancouver have been taught to entertain a wholesome respect for two men of the police force.”

So began a profile of Detectives Donald A. Sinclair and Joseph Ricci in the department’s Annual Report of 1921. Assigned to the city’s first Drug Squad and tasked with suppressing the opium trade, these intrepid men quickly became experts on the trap doors, secret walls and other techniques used to conceal the drug trade from the prying eyes of the police. Thanks to the special skills of these men, finesse and the element of surprise were often adequate to gain entry to these secret spaces in basements and back rooms.

Occasionally, however, more convincing force was required: “the stalwart detective began chopping at the door with might and main, flying chips and heavy thuds from his axe.” Confronted with three separate thick doors, strengthened by heavy timbers, entry was made even more difficult when an alarm of “police” was given; a sentry would push an electric button which would close numerous doors, turn off electric lights and release the trapdoors for quick escape.

“There also enters at all times a considerable element of danger in this class of work, as the drug trafficker oftimes is a drug user and therefore to be closely watched. On their raids Ricci and Sinclair have been trapped in burning buildings, have been shot at and have had to shoot, but they have pulled through and built up a success at drug seizures of which the Force is very proud.”

In less than five years on the Drug Squad, seizures by these two detectives were valued in the Annual Report at “hundreds of thousands of dollars”, which would be the equivalent of millions of dollars today. They followed up this success by going to work on the city’s Dry Squad, using the same shrewd powers of observation and tenacious enthusiasm to curb the city’s illegal alcohol trade during and after Prohibition. Later, they also left their mark on the Morality Squad, clamping down on the “Social Evil” of prostitution.

As with other officers working on crimes of vice, Sinclair and Ricci were selected for their dispositions and ability to “disregard the unpleasantness attached to their work,” according to the 1921 Report. They further demonstrated all the qualifications of good detectives, namely: “shrewdness, reliability, honesty and energy.”

For their invaluable expertise, marked cunning and immovable resolve, these two exceptional Detectives were singled out in 1921 for going “Beyond the Call”.