The Record’s crime reporter, Cayley Dobie, recently sat down with the New Westminster Police Department’s two previous chief constables and its current leader to hear how policing in the Royal City has changed since the mid-’90s.
In this second issue, we look at how far the department has come since the struggles of the mid-’90s and what contributed to its success.
*
When it was announced in 2011 that Dave Jones would be promoted to chief constable of the New Westminster Police Department, the then-chief, Lorne Zapotichny, hailed it as a success. It was the first time in more than a decade that an officer had worked his way from the bottom of the department all the way to the chief’s office.
Jones started with the department as a reserve in the early ’80s and became a constable in 1986. The ambitious officer headed the street crime unit during the peak of the city’s crime problems and is one of the remaining officers to have held every rank in the department, including the discontinued corporal rank.
But Jones credits much of his success to his two predecessors, Zapotichny and Peter Young.
Jones says he learned how to communicate effectively with the members and use what they tell him to make decisions that benefit the department as a whole – and ultimately the city.
“When it comes to making a decision it’s not about just saying, ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ or just giving your answer, but it was about learning to ask one word before and that was, ‘Why?’ It’s a big difference as to what happens,” Jones says.
It’s this type of communication that led the department to make the change to the new Ford Explorer police vehicles that can be spotted cruising the streets of the Royal City.
The department was looking at updating its fleet of cruisers and instead of just making the decision for the department, Jones encouraged officers at all ranks to get involved.
“They (the officers) looked at the new Ford Taurus and the Dodge Charger and this vehicle (the Explorer) and whatever vehicle we would throw at them, and we let those members go to the track, we let them test-drive them, we let them go out and sit in them,” Jones says. “We talked about putting equipment in: How would you fit a prisoner in them? We sat tall, short, thin, wide out there and then we had a vehicle that they came to us and said, ‘This meets all of our needs. This is the one that works for everybody.’ And not just by a bit, it was hands down.”
Once the members made their choice, Jones presented the proposal to the city explaining the research the officers had done and the benefits of moving to a sport utility vehicle. The board was impressed, and the officers were granted their request.
“That decision was made by getting the members involved and actually empowering the members to look at every car,” Jones says. “It’s our job in management to deliver the tools and stuff they need, and then they know they’ve got the support.”
Zapotichny agrees with Jones and says he tried to carry on a tradition of caring when he took over from Young in 2000. By caring about the officers at the bottom, the New Westminster Police Department has developed a reputation as one of the best police services in the province, Zapotichny adds.
“Since Peter came in, and where we are now with Dave, we’ve made huge, huge progress because it very quickly became known throughout the policing universe in the province that we were the best equipped, we had the best uniforms, we had the best of the best and … I look back down at Peter and what I learned from that was that if you want your people to feel good you have to give them the tools that they need to do their job,” Zapotichny says.
Since Young was brought in as chief constable in 1996, the department has been on the road to recovery. It faced many obstacles in the late ’90s with street crime, gang violence and drug trafficking all peaking at once, but Young laid down the tracks for both Zapotichny and Jones to follow, and follow they did.
In order to make the department as effective as possible, Jones has spent most of his time as chief creating relationships with the numerous integrated units at work in the Lower Mainland. Units such as the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team and Lower Mainland District Emergency Response Team all play a vital role in assisting the New Westminster Police Department.
“That’s the big role right now, leveraging relationships,” Jones says. “Like E-Comm, our relationship with IHIT (Integrated Homicide Investigation Team) and LMD ERT (Lower Mainland District Emergency Response Team). Those have been big, in terms of all the service delivery, too.”
By taking advantage of regional units, Jones has been able to free up department resources to address current challenges facing the department today – challenges like mental health.
The New Westminster Police Department created a new position last year to deal with increased wait-times for officers dropping patients off at Royal Columbian Hospital. The new position of mental health intervention coordinator, held by Const. Arthur Wlodyka, was meant as a pilot project but was quickly adopted as an official position.
The creation of such a position has helped reduce the time officers spend waiting to check patients into the hospital. Wlodyka has also created a database, which is accessible by all patrol officers, that lists clients with known mental health problems and who officers should contact if they respond to a call involving the individual.
“Everything we look at now is strategic. We’re looking (strategically) as to why we need another resource, what is that resource being hired to do, and what will they help alleviate?” Jones says.
A more recent need Jones says the department is looking to address is the increase in truck traffic in the city. The department announced earlier this year it was creating a commercial vehicle inspection unit comprised of two civilians whose sole duty will be to inspect commercial vehicles for safety violations.
“The Pattullo Bridge won’t be rebuilt tomorrow, and even if it was, the amount of containers coming out of Queensborough and Richmond to get to the northeast sector is huge, and New West is going to be the way to go and we need to enforce both safety and compliance as they come through the city,” Jones says.
Both Young and Zapotichny have commended Jones on his work as chief constable, but Jones admits, the success of the department is a reflection of the hard work all its members put in.
“The depth he’s got right down to sergeant and staff sergeant level. I think Lorne (Zapotichny), you would agree, and that’s a lot of credit to you, too. We’re not giving Dave all the credit,” Young laughs.
Next time, The Record discusses the future of the department and whether or not Chief Const. Dave Jones intends to be part of that future.
