DCHP-2

morality squad Morality squad, Morality Squad DCHP-2 (June 2016)

• n. — especially Central Canada and Prairies

  a police unit dealing with crimes related to gambling, prostitution, pornography and drugs; vice squad.

  Type: 5. Frequency — Canada's first morality squad was established in Toronto in 1887, and shortly afterwards other communities established like units (Loo & Strange 1997: 61). Morality squad officers often went undercover and acted on citizens' complaints about immorality in their neighbourhoods (Loo & Strange 1997: 81-82). The term has limited use in the US. The term may have originated in Canada, where it is most prevalent (see Chart 1). Within Canada, in the Central Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario the term is used frequently, as it is in the Prairie provinces, above all Saskatchewan.
  See COD-2, s.v. "morality squad", which is marked "Cdn", and OED-3, s.v. "morality" (c.2 "morality squad"), which is marked "Canad."