After leaving the Merchant Marines, Ted (Edward) Wickens joined the Ontario Provincial Police and was stationed at Mount Forest, St. Marys (Municipal), Chatham and finally at Orillia.

On the evening of May 10, 1960, a cement carrier traveling on Highway 11 lost a wheel and veered into Constable Wicken’s lane. A collision occurred, as there was no room on the road or the shoulder for Ted to manoeuver his vehicle around the truck. On closer scrutiny, it was determined that the cement carrier had rolled onto Constable Wicken’s cruiser, killing him instantly. He was thirty-one years of age.

His wife and three children, one of which was born after his death, survived Ted. Ted Wickens was thirty-one years old.