John Chisholm

Who is John Chisholm?

John C. Chisholm was the first Chief Constable of the Metropolitan Toronto Police Force until he committed suicide.

Chisholm's father was a lay preacher in Dundee City Prison when John was growing up, giving him an interest in criminology.

He served in World War I with the artillery in Mesopotamia and, after the war, decided to enter policing. After finding no openings with the Hong Kong Police, he came to Canada where he joined the Toronto Police Department in 1920 he became an acting detective in three years, skipped a rank, to become detective sergeant in 1930 and went on to become the youngest inspector and then youngest deputy chief in the department's history in 1945 before becoming chief constable on the City of Toronto Police Department in January 1946.

Chisholm was found dead in his automobile in High Park having killed himself by a single shotgun wound to the head. He had been suffering from ill health since the previous Christmas - Police Commission Chairman C. O. Bick told the Daily Star that his "nerves" were bad, and had been rumoured for several weeks to be considering submitting his resignation.