Toronto Police Service in 1834 when the city of Toronto was first created from the town of York. (Prior to that, local able-bodied male citizens were required to report for night duty as special constables for a fixed number of nights a year on the pain of fine or imprisonment in a system known as "watch and ward". The Toronto Police is one of the English-speaking world's oldest modern municipal police departments; older than, for example, the New York City Police Department which was formed in 1845 or the Boston Police Department which was established in 1839. The London Metropolitan Police of 1829
History of the Metropolitan Police Service after 20 (formerly 22) years of duty. When a male police officer was asked in 1916 whether women would ever be police constables, he burst out laughing, replying: "No, not even if the war lasts 50 years." However, the Women’s Police Service, made up of volunteers, had been founded in 1914. Female police officers first joined the Metropolitan Police in 1919, although the then Commissioner, Sir Nevil Macready, insisted he did not want any “vinegary spinsters” or “blighted middle-aged fanatics” in its ranks. The female police officers were distinguished from their male counterparts, who had wider authority, by the prefix