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morality squad
DCHP-2 (Jul 2013)
Spelling variants:Morality squad, Morality Squad
n. — especially Central Canada and Prairies
a police unit dealing with crimes related to gambling, prostitution, pornography and drugs; vice squad.
Type: 5. Frequency — Canada's first morality squad was established in Toronto in 1887, and shortly afterwards other communities established like units (Loo & Strange 1997: 61). Morality squad officers often went undercover and acted on citizens' complaints about immorality in their neighbourhoods (Loo & Strange 1997: 81-82). The term has limited use in the US. The term may have originated in Canada, where it is most prevalent (see Chart 1). Within Canada, in the Central Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario the term is used frequently, as it is in the Prairie provinces, above all Saskatchewan.
See COD-2, s.v. "morality squad", which is marked "Cdn", and OED-3, s.v. "morality" (c.2 "morality squad"), which is marked "Canad."
See COD-2, s.v. "morality squad", which is marked "Cdn", and OED-3, s.v. "morality" (c.2 "morality squad"), which is marked "Canad."
Quotations
1920
Winnipeg, Nov. 15. - "Curly" O'Neil, believed to be the companion of "James Brown," the gun-man who shot down three members of the Provincial Morality squad in the Stock Yards Hotel, St. Boniface, early last Thursday morning, was arrested in Moose Jaw to-day.
1934
Sergeant Roughead and members of the Morality Squad this afternoon raided the fruit store of Alex, Athonasopulis, a Greek, at 481 King Street East, and seized what are alleged to have been several betting slips.
1951
But an addict's thefts must return him ample income if he is to satisfy his craving for drugs. The most widely used drug in Toronto -- practically the only one, according to morality squad officers -- is heroin. It is sold in capsule at slightly over $2 each, and an addict may require as many as 10 capsules a day.
1977
First, to shock. Second, to get closed down by a police morality squad and become a cause celebre.
1987
St. Germain, a former policeman in his native St. Boniface, Man., and a one-time member of the Vancouver police morality squad, told the Commons the war on crime must be taken as seriously as any military operation.
1995
If birds do it and bees do it, why can't vegetables? A couple of sexy tomatoes snuggling up to a stubby cucumber and a long ear of corn aren't likely to excite the morality squad, even in Alberta.
2002
Then, in a predawn raid, morality-squad officers moved in on him, seizing dozens of illegal gambling machines at a north-end warehouse and putting the 17-year police veteran under arrest.
2007
"It's the women's suffrage movement and the women's rights movement being the ones who really cast us as the vectors of disease and the ones who are responsible for our isolation," she said of the various morality squads that led the public charge against prostitution in the early 20th century.
2013
Windsor police are focusing their investigation on the alleged sexual assaults, but members of the morality squad are also working with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario to determine whether the two bars whose washrooms are now crime scenes broke another law by serving alcohol to minors.
2016
Once again, the commander will be taking part in Thursday night patrols of Ste. Anne de Bellevue where student aged revelers can often cause disturbances post partying.
“Our Morality Squad has visited all of the drinking establishments in the village, our socio-com officers have spoken to students at McGill and John Abbott College and special attention will be given to that dossier,” said De Montigny.
References
- OED-3
- COD-2
- Loo & Strange (1997)
Images
Chart 1: Internet Domain Search, 16 Aug. 2012
