YouthLink Calgary took the cuffs off a new historical display that whisks visitors back more than a century for insight into Calgary’s sometimes sordid wild west past.

The Calgary Police Service (CPS) hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony at the YouthLink Calgary Police Interpretive Centre on Thursday. Deputy Chief Katie McLellan unlocked a cuff chain ribbon to unveil the new Rogues’ Gallery.

It is an exhibition that showcases the stories behind the mug shots taken more than a century ago. 

“It’s really important to look back at our history to see how we have evolved, to see how crimes and policing worked in the past and how much we’ve changed, learned, grown and how much we interact with the community,” said McLellan.

The exhibit offers a history of people that once lived in Calgary, what they looked like, the places they came from, their occupations, circumstances, and what crimes they were arrested for in an era before the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was written.  People can learn about what laws and society was like multiple generations ago along with what has changed and stayed the same.

“This exhibit offers a compelling insight into Calgary’s past, highlighting the unique characters and narratives that have shaped our city’s historical landscape,” said Tara Robinson, executive director of YouthLink in a news release.

The Rogues Gallery aims to show how the struggles people faced in the past are universal regardless of the circumstances people have lived through such as poverty, racism, and addictions. CPS wants to show how laws and criminal investigation standards have changed to address and understand these struggles better. Noreen Barrows, museum and operations manager, hopes visitors develop an appreciation for the people that came before whether they were law-breaking individuals or police officers.

“There was little understanding of addictions therapies, and yet now we have treatment centres. Same with mental health conditions,” said Barrows.

The main attraction

A thick mugshot book from 1913 serves as the exhibit’s centerpiece after being released from a five-year restoration period.  The book contains images of 2,700 individuals and ushered the CPS into a new era of criminal identification. This served as a precursor to the modern methods of facial recognition software.

“It’s a totally different world, so this is truly a step back in time,” said Robinson.

The gallery uses a variety of techniques including videos, photographs, stories, and artifacts to immerse guests into the world of mugshot and booking procedures of yesteryear. The artifacts include fingerprint cards, flashlight, cuffs, and a camera. Barrows believes that anyone with interest in Calgary’s evolution in law enforcement should visit the Rogues’ Gallery.

“It’s a fun exhibit for all ages,” said Barrows.

The mugshot exhibit is the first of its kind in Canada. It was made possible through collaboration with the Alberta Museum Association, the Archives Society of Alberta, the Calgary Police Service – Digital Services Unit, Canada’s Penitentiary Museum, the GALT Museum, the Royal Alberta Museum, and Lisa Isley-bookbinder, conservator, and artist.

“We’re so proud and happy to have this mugshot book,” said Stephanie Woodridge, historical collections manager.

“It’s not very often that you get to show your most prized possession, so I hope as many people come to take a look and check it out as they can.”

The mugshot book and other documents are accessible for academic and research purposes albeit mostly through the digitized versions. Research requests are accepted through the CPS as per FOIP requests.

“Through these historical mug shots, we are transported back in time to a different era, where the challenges faced by police officers were different from today. But no doubt, police leaders back then would have found these challenges just as critical as the challenges we face today,” said McLellan in a news release.

The Rogues Gallery will officially open to the public on April 12, 2024. Crime prevention programs run from Monday to Thursday. The museum opens to the public on Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It will also open on Sundays after the May long weekend.