Truro (Nova Scotia) Police Officer Bruce J. Lake was featured in the April 14 edition of the police detective Dick Tracy comic strip, a syndicated comic strip that has been published in newspapers since 1931.
“Tracy’s Hall of Fame” is a monthly panel appearing in the strip since around 2005, in which a police officer, first responder, or other friend of law enforcement is profiled. The panel is written by the comic’s law enforcement technical advisor, a role currently held by retired Polk County (Florida) lieutenant Walter Reimer since 2016.
Lake’s profile in the comic includes a sketched portrait and mention of his August 2023 rescue of a young woman who was trapped underwater by whirling currents in the Broad River in New Brunswick’s Fundy National Park. That rescue also earned him the Carnegie Medal for Heroism.
“A veteran officer with the Truro, Nova Scotia, police department, Officer Lake was off-duty with his wife and friends on 8/9/23 at a local park when he saw a woman being pulled under by strong currents near a waterfall. He immediately entered the water and pulled her to safety. Neither Officer Lake nor the woman were injured,” the panel read.
Lake joins a list of standout cops, including Frank Serpico, who is best known for blowing the whistle on police corruption at the NYPD, and first female homicide detective Mary Sullivan. Others featured include crime writers Joseph Wambugh and William Caunitz