We just learned that retired local beat cop Bernie “Whistling” Smith has passed away at the age of 89.

Smith was the subject of a memorable Marrin Canell documentary in 1975 (above). To watch it is to behold the unsettling similarities between the DTES of the 70’s and that of today. Of course Smith exhibits the kind of swagger then that would send David Eby into paroxysms now, but these were clearly very different times, however much they may appear to be the same.

We posted the video way back when the National Film Board of Canada first put it online, and we just watched it again. It’s still dumbfounding. Smith was the stuff of urban legend in the community, and despite an attitude that seems absolutely antiquated today, no one would ever deny that he loved this city very much. He was also the keeper of an amazing moustache, for which he garners even more respect. The modern day policeman behind the Eastside Stories blog sat down with him a year ago this week, and found him still all kinds of awesome, totally emblematic of a different era in DTES policing, the sort that came before the advent of meth, crack, a concentrated Hep C epidemic, and HIV/AIDS.

It’s been some 35 years since Bernie Smith’s days as a beat cop. I’m sure he never dreamed the next generation would still be searching for ways to solve the scourge of the Downtown Eastside. And I bet he never imagined the problems would have multiplied the way they have.

I asked him whether he figured we’d still be looking for answers 35 years from now. He told me he thinks there will come a time when society will simply say enough’s enough, and will stand up to say that this kind of lifestyle, this kind of poverty and these kinds of living conditons are no longer acceptable.

If and when that happens, nobody knows. Until then, all I can do is what Bernie Smith did — try to leave this nasty place a little better than I found it. I only hope that when I’m 88 years old and long retired, the next generation of police officers won’t still be looking for answers.

Amen.