Chief Superintendent Lesley Bain,  Officer in charge of North District RCMP – photo 250 News

Prince George, B.C. –  She has been  on the job since last July, time enough to settle in,  but North District RCMP’s Chief Superintendent  is no stranger  to the region or the  challenges and responsibilities that come with the office.

Chief Superintendent Lesley Bain  had been the second in command  to her predecessor  Chief Superintendent Rod Booth  from 2012  to 2014  when she  transferred to  Alberta  to take on the duties  as Chief Superintendent  of Central Alberta Command.   About a year later,   she  applied to return to Prince George, as the Chief Superintendent of North District,  a region that covers more than two thirds of the  province.

“North District is in great  shape” says  Chief Superintendent Bain “My predecessor Rod Booth ran  a very tight ship and  I am blessed to be in this role,  I truly am.”

That’s not to say there  are challenges  in the  region “I think from my perspective, it’s about   continuing to work on partnerships within the communities.  It’s about looking at our crime rates and seeing where we can  inject ourselves in order to reduce them,  I think it’s about seeing where  we can build on partnerships with other service providers to see if we can provide holistic approaches  to  crime reduction  and crime prevention.”

The Prince George detachment of the RCMP  is a prime example  of  police  working with local  agencies in crime reduction and prevention.  The Car 60 program in Prince George which partners a constable and mental health  nurse to handle  certain calls is one initiative, there  is also a domestic violence  unit, very active community policing  component and victim services to name  just a few .

But developing  those partnerships is no easy task in  some of the smaller rural communities from  100 Mile House to the Yukon border  and from Haida Gwaii to the Alberta border,  “I would say some  areas are better placed to have the services in the local community to support that kind of initiative,  so where those are available,  I would see us able to, or try to establish those partnerships, much like they are doing here( in Prince George).

Different communities are facing  different issues, and Chief Superintendent Bain says  what works in one community may not work in another  “It’s a diverse District,  and a one size fits all, doesn’t fit  the detachments within this District.  So it’s  really looking at the  community, looking at our resources within that  community, and then trying to develop a  targeted approach.  There can’t be a cookie cutter that applies to everything.”

Women are  advancing to  some of the top positions in the RCMP,  for example,  former Prince George Detachment Superintendent Brenda Butterworth Carr is now  the  Chief Superintendent for all of Saskatchewan and Beverly Busson  was a Commissioner  for the RCMP.   But North District’s Chief Superintendent  doesn’t  think  her gender plays a part in  how she  handles, or manages  North District,  “I think people handle things differently… Often it’s said females deal better with  children, but there are males who  deal well with children and some females  who don’t, so I don’t like to look at things with  a gender perspective, it’s individual,  it’s what skills the person brings to the role.”

She says  she doesn’t  look at things  framed by gender “People find an interest and a passion for the things they do that is what shines through.”

“North District  is a wonderful place to be, its a nice place to work,  it’s  diverse” says Chief Superintendent Bain, who would like to keep  moving the  District forward on the path set by predecessor  “I think I would like  to keep building on the momentum that   we are seeing. It’s a professional police force, public trust is important  member wellness and professionalism  both internally and externally is important, so I think it’s any number of things  I would like to see come to  continue  on with.”

One of the issues that  was pressed  by  now retired Chief Superintendent Rod Booth is the need to have a helicopter based in  Prince George  and  it is still  “in the works” says Chief Superintendent Bain ” it is scheduled to come, but I don’t have the date for that, ”   and she  remains  positive about its arrival “I anticipate  the helicopter will be coming.”