Jack Webster

Who was Jack Webster?

Jack Webster, nicknamed Copper Jack, was a leading police officer, administrator and police historian in Toronto, Canada.

Webster was born in Toronto to an immigrant family from Scotland. At age sixteen, he lied about his age to join the Royal Canadian Engineers; he later said that he was afraid World War II would already be over if he waited until the legal age of eighteen. Webster was in the army for five years, and served in France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

He joined the Toronto police force on the same day he was discharged from the army in 1945, and was assigned to a street patrol on Queen Street West. He once identified a person he had seen on his beat as escaped German prisoner of war Wolfgang Friedlander, which nearly led to Friedlander's capture in Quebec. Webster was the last constable to ride a bicycle on his beat, and was the last Toronto policeman to wear a bobby's helmet and tight-necked tunic on duty. In 1958, he was appointed to the city's newly formed Robbery Squad.

Webster later became commander of Toronto's homicide squad, and is credited with solving 85 murders.