FROM:
THE TORONTO STAR
Friday, March 8, 1974
Eighteen people "who became involved" were cited by Metro Police Commission Chairman C. 0. Bick yesterday for "voluntarily assisting police" to keep Metro's streets safe.
They. included students two husband-and-wife teams, a former National Hockey League player, a truck driver, a building superintendent, a security guard and two policemen's mothers.
Commenting on a recent grand jury report that Toronto could become a haven for criminals and lose its reputation as a city of safe streets, Bick told the group:
"It won't happen."
With people like, you and the kind of police force we have, you won't let it happen."
Since the commission began awarding civilian citations in 1959, almost 1,500 people have been given wood plaques for helping police.
Seven-year old Holly Winchester, who help foil a robber last May, is the youngest recipient.
Student Orlando Nobrega, 21, of Shaw St., apologized for turning up at yesterday's presentation without a shirt and tie.
"I didn't realize it was such a posh thing," said the Ryerson Polytechnical Institute business student as the group was ushered into Metro police headquarters.
Nobrega and his girlfriend, Gabriela Loenhart, 20, a bank teller trainee, held a burglar for police in December.
Roy Joliffe, 15, and Roger Wright, 13, both students, at ParkdaIe Public School, helped police catch youths who mugged a man near some portable school buildings last December.
"The police just needed help," said Roger. " So we helped them. It was the only thing to do."
Sixty-nine-year-old Richardson Christiansen stood at attention as he received his plaque for helping to capture two escapers from the Toronto Jail on New Year's Day.
The Riverdale Hospital security guard was lauded by Bick for making the escape "shortlived" for the men were arrested within a half hour of climbing down a 16-foot ladder.
Earl Balfour, former Toronto Maple Leaf and Chicago Black Hawk player, went to a woman's rescue Dec. 12. Alerted by her screams, Balfour found a man trying to force her into his car.
Michael O'Keefe was commended for helping chase and handcuff a burglar who broke into a jewelry store Dec. 15.
Others who foiled burglaries were Nancy Saunders and her so Norm, of Commonwealth Ave., Scarborough; Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Johnson of Crown Hil Place; Mr. and Mrs. John Clohissey of Weston Road; Stewart Dillman, a 42-year truck driver and father six children; Mrs. Joanne Kofler, the mother of a Metro policeman, and her son Rudy, 19.
"When you preach about law and order, you have to set an example," said Mrs. Anne Waterhouse who stopped a young woman's spending spree on stolen credit cards.
Mrs. Waterhouse's son Bill is a Metro policeman at No. 33 Division in Don Mills. Building superintendent Lawrence Dusome of FeneIon Dr., Don Mills, helped arrest a man who pistol whipped and robbed a taxi driver of $60 on Dec. 21. He had seen a stranger in his building and called police.
Truck-taxi driver Victor Deschenes, 22, called police after he took a man and some large boxes from one building to another. Police investigation revealed the man had $3,000 worth of stolen office equipment.
Albert Spencer, whose award was picked up by a friend was made a citizen's arrest of a robber at the Greenwood race track Dec. 5.
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