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Lemcke retires from policing after 41 years 

April 14, 2022   ·   0 Comments

Written By Paula Brown

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

It’s Monday morning just after 10 a.m., and Bruce Lemcke is fixing the living room T.V for his four-year-old granddaughter so she can watch cartoons. 

Police memorabilia and photos from his years in service don the walls of his Shelburne home, seamlessly blending among the décor and photos of family members. They’re physical proof of the deeply rich familial history between the Lemcke family and community policing. 

Belonging to a policing legacy that now spans four generations, Lemcke is once again following in the footsteps of his family – retirement. 

Lemcke officially retired from the Dufferin OPP on April 1 after a more than 40-year career in policing that crossed three services. 

“I feel a sense of loss because I really enjoyed my career. Most people say when you leave a job you miss the friends you met, and absolutely it’s 100 percent true. I remember my dad saying to me that he felt more lost after leaving his job as a prison escort after his retirement as police chief and I believe that I sort of understand that now,” said Lemcke. 

Lemcke’s connection to law enforcement started long before he received his badge with the Peel Regional Police Service in 1980. His grandfather, Art Lemcke, was Police Chief in Wiarton from 1950 to 1962, serving the Bruce County community for 12 years. His father, Carmen Lemcke, became one the of the longest-serving police chiefs in Canadian history after a 37-year career running Shelburne’s local police service. 

It was at age 17, around the time he was ready to leave high school, that Lemcke recalls an interest in becoming a man of the law. 

“There was no pressure at all, but my dad was extremely happy that I wanted to go into the same profession,” said Lemcke. 

From there he started submitting applications to jobs with both smaller services including Orangeville as well as larger ones such as Peel. Then he waited. 

“Back then a lot of the smaller forces would scoop up guys that went to Toronto or Peel, who had some experience and wanted to come home to their small town. Not a lot of communities were hiring recruits,” said Lemcke. 

Not hearing back on any of his applications, Lemcke went on to take a position with the Town of Shelburne’s Parks and Recreation department, where he stayed for almost four years before moving on to a factory in Brampton. The factory he worked at would conveniently be located across from the Peel Regional Police building. 

“One day, I was having lunch outside at a picnic table and I decided to go over grab an application, fill it out and start going through the process,” he explained. 

Submitting his application with the Peel Regional Police Service in September of 1980, he was hired on by Dec. 1 and started as a uniformed constable 28 days later.

Lemcke would go on to remain with the service for the next 35 years. He worked with the Major Drugs and Vice unit, and after 10 years was promoted to detective before moving on to the Fraud Bureau and later becoming the Labour Liaison Officer in 2008. 

Looking back at his time with the Peel Regional Police Service, one moment Lemcke recalls being proud of is when the Major Drugs and Vice Unit seized 100 pounds of hash along Prince of Wales Rd, behind Superburger in 1989. 

As Christmas of 2015 approached, so did his 35th anniversary with the Peel Regional Police Service, and Lemcke decided it was time for him to move on. 

But the bug for law enforcement was not done with Lemcke who, after only six months of retirement and working as a private investigator, chose to return to his roots in Dufferin County, joining the Orangeville Police Service (OPS) in April of 2017. 

While proud to become a part of his own community’s police service, he expresses a special amount of pride in watching his two sons forge their own careers and even continue the Lemcke legacy in community policing 

His eldest son, Bryan, became an auxiliary officer with Shelburne Police in 2003 before transitioning to a position with the Town of Orangeville. Greg, his second son, became an auxiliary officer and transitioned to a full-time constable in Shelburne on August 5, 2006. The date held personal significance in the Lemcke family as it marked 50 years after his grandfather, Carmen, became a police officer in the same service. 

As the Orangeville Police Service transitioned to the Ontario Provincial Police, the force which Lemcke’s father had played such as significant role in shaping also found itself coming to an end. 

In February on 2021, Shelburne Police Service (SPS), a 141-year-old force, disbanded and became a part of what is now Dufferin OPP, and Lemcke was given the chance to walk the streets in uniform as his father did so many years before. 

“I walked up and down the streets of Shelburne all my life, and it was very humbling to walk the same streets my dad did,” said Lemcke. 

In his final week as a constable with the Dufferin OPP, Lemcke said he spent time stopping into his usually points for a final goodbye, an experience he admits was hard. 

Now retired, Lemcke is using his free time for volunteer efforts. Currently he helping his wife Brenda, a hairdresser at Dufferin Oaks, by assisting residents to and from the hair salon. 

While Bruce Lemcke’s time in policing is done, the Lemcke Legacy continues in Dufferin County and may for some time as the granddaughter he fixes the T.V for, when asked what she wants to be one day, simply proclaims – a police officer. 



         

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