The leaders of British Columbia's police forces are meeting in Prince George this spring.
The province's police chiefs association holds three meetings a year, and in June they will conduct one of them in B.C.'s northern capital. It is the first time since 2005 they have convened here.
"I have been here 12 years and this is only the second time for me," said Chief Supt. Barry Clark, commanding officer for all police in the northern half of the province, and host of the meeting. "I believe the mayor [Dan Rogers] will be there, I expect I will introduce Prince George detachment's new commanding officer, and it will be my last official function and then I will be on retirement leave after that."
He joked that he and Prince George detachment then-commander Supt. Brenda Butterworth-Carr jointly invited the association to meet in Prince George but she got a promotion to Ottawa so he was left to organize it all by himself.
"There are more than 100 members, and it never happens that everyone can be there at once but we are expecting 60 to 70 here in Prince George," Clark said.
The association is made up of municipal or independent police forces, plus the various RCMP entities across B.C. There are also associate members from the agencies like the Conservation Officer ranks, specialized security firms, senior government officials, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and Drug Enforcement Unit, plus many others.
The current president of the association is Supt. Tonia Enger, commander of the North Vancouver RCMP detachment.
The agenda is not generally made available outside of association members, said Clark, but he promised the discussions were always matters of high importance for the culture of policing in the province.
"There is not a specific focus on Prince George within the agenda, but Prince George will have an influence," he said. "There are immediate benefits to the community when groups of people from out of town come here and are out and about spending money in our local economy, but it is also important for these people to come here to Prince George, especially people in our profession, and see that we're not actually the horrible place we're made out to be by Maclean's Magazine and others."
The meetings begin June 14 when independent police chiefs meet together and separately, RCMP commanders meet together. The next day they all come together for more sessions.
