The search for a new Victoria police chief is set to begin, after Chief Jamie Graham announced Wednesday that he will retire at the end of the year.
Victoria Mayor Dean Fortin, chairman of the police board, expressed appreciation for Graham’s work as head of police in Victoria and Esquimalt.
“The board now begins the challenging task to replace the chief, confident that in the time we have between now and the end of the year, we’ll be able to find the best person for the job.”
Under Graham’s leadership, Fortin said, Victoria’s crime-severity index — compiled by Statistics Canada — dropped 26 per cent from 2009-11, while public disorder downtown saw a “major reduction.”
Efforts like Late Night Great Night — a Graham-supported Downtown Victoria Business Association program that includes late-night buses and police-monitored taxi stands to help people get home from downtown — have helped that happen, Fortin said.
“We want to keep those trends continuing and look forward to doing that under the new police chief.”
Fortin said the process of selecting a new chief is expected to take the next four to six months.
Graham, 64, stepped in as the Victoria Police Department’s 12th chief constable in December 2008, arriving on the heels of the resignation of Chief Paul Battershill the previous August. The departure of Battershill came before his disciplinary hearing linked to an affair with a Victoria Police Board lawyer.
Graham, too, has sometimes had an unflattering spotlight turned on him. He said Wednesday his policy has been to admit to errors and deal with them — as was the case when he left a loaded service pistol in its holster under the seat of his unmarked police vehicle, in the police parkade.
Graham said he was properly reprimanded by the police board for the incident. “I make mistakes, I certainly made a mistake there. It happened a few years ago and I simply have moved on since then.”
Graham was also reprimanded for a comment he made at a security conference in advance of the 2010 Winter Olympics that revealed an undercover officer had been the driver for a bus full of protesters.
Another controversy that landed in Graham’s lap was the high-profile case of a well-circulated YouTube video showing two Victoria officers using what many felt was excessive force in dealing with a man they were attempting to handcuff downtown in 2010.
A hearing was ordered by the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, and last week, one of the officers was found to have abused his authority and used unnecessary force.
Graham said he tried to ensure all steps taken surrounding the incident have been fair to those involved. “The case is unique. There’s a dynamic set of circumstance that took place, in the middle of which 30 seconds captured by one person on video.”
He reiterated the department’s support for the process in investigating the complaint.
Graham, who previously led the Vancouver police from 2002-07 after close to 35 years in the RCMP, gave the Victoria department’s 243 officers and other staff the credit for any accomplishments during his tenure. “You can be the coach and you can stickhandle a little bit, but at the end of the day, it’s a group of men and women that kind of get the job done.”
Like Fortin, Graham pointed to the force’s success working on crime-reduction strategies, especially a current focus on prolific offenders — he noted that another criminal with a long record was taken off the streets this week.
One contentious issue Graham has never shied away from was the regionalization of police forces, something he continues to support.
“I’ve been fairly vocal about that. I make no secret that when I was hired, I had a pretty clear mandate from my police board to pursue a regional solution to crime problems.”
As for his successor, Graham said the attractiveness of life in Victoria attracts plenty of applicants for every position that arises in the department, and the job of chief should be no different.
“This is probably one of the most sought-after police chief’s jobs in North America. I would not be surprised to see an international interest in this case, certainly national.”
Hiring from within the department is a possibility, Graham said, pointing to a “very talented” group of officers that includes deputy chiefs Del Manak and John Ducker and the department’s inspectors.
“I came from the outside and I couldn’t ask for more support than what I’ve received,” Graham said.
Saanich Police Chief Mike Chadwick said he will miss Graham, whom he called one reason for the “collegial” relationship enjoyed by police chiefs in the area.
Graham and his wife Gail, a lawyer, plan to continue living in Victoria.
