By Alex McCuaig

Former MHPS Chief Norm McLeod

City’s hometown former police chief passes

Apr 27, 2020 | 4:23 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Medicine Hat’s hometown police chief, Norm McLeod, died last week after a lengthy battle with dementia.

He was 88 years old.

Chief McLeod was born and raised in Medicine Hat, joining the city police in 1957 as a constable before rising to be the municipality’s top cop in 1984.

He was involved in one of the service’s most memorable events – the Great Aberdeen Street Shootout – which in 1969 saw then Sgt. McLeod nearly gunned down by a pistol-toting bank robber with a gun in each hand. That culprit was himself shot and killed by a fellow officer as McLeod was reloading his service revolver.

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Current MHPS Chief Andy McGrogan says by the time he joined the service in 1980, McLeod was an inspector with a reputation for being highly intelligent but no-nonsense.

“He was always very respectful, he was always very friendly,” said McGrogan. “But he had an edge to him, though, if things weren’t going right – serious about his work and he expected everybody to do well. I guess you could say he didn’t suffer fools lightly but he was a good man and good at what he did.”

The former chief’s widow, Shirley McLeod, said her husband was a “gentleman” who was, “so supportive of me.”

She added she hopes to have a memorial for her husband once COVID-19 pandemic protocols are relaxed.