New Delta police Chief Neil Dubord reiterated his commitments to the community this week during an appearance at the Ladner Rotary Club’s weekly meeting.
Dubord, who took over for the retired Jim Cessford in late June, made three commitments — to continue to support Delta’s long tradition of community-based policing; to continue with the department’s no-call-too-small philosophy; and to be a tireless advocate for the community — during a brief initial address at his swearing in ceremony.
“Delta has a well-known reputation for their community police program, for their partnerships with the community and for their problem solving and it’s my intention to be able to fulfill that same level of reputation that they’ve built up over the course of time,” Dubord told Rotarians Tuesday.
The chief said his commitment to community-based policing was instilled early in his career.
As a young cop patrolling the streets of Edmonton, Dubord said he regularly visited a hotel known for drugs, prostitution and other illegal activities. Every night, the young constable and his partner would walk over to the hotel, which was just 200 metres from police headquarters, and arrest someone.
One night, Dubord said, his sergeant told the officers to walk down the street, knock on a few doors and talk to members of the community.
The chief said he learned that, in addition to chasing bad guys, officers need to reach out to hear residents’ priorities for police.
“I’ve never forgotten that lesson that it begins with a dialogue because police officers, inherently think we know what the community needs but that conversation allows us to actually learn better.”
Delta’s well-known mantra of no-call-too-small appears safe with the new chief.
“No-call-too-small, in my personal opinion, is an attitude, not just a philosophy. It’s about how we deliver service,” he said. “Police have to be able to talk to the community to understand the needs of the community around no-call-too-small.”
Following the recent drug lab bust in Tsawwassen, Dubord visited the neighbourhood as officers worked to investigate and dismantle the operation. He said he gave residents his cell phone number and told them to call if they had any questions or concerns.
A few days later, Dubord said, he was at home when one of those residents called with a few questions. Near the end of their conversation, Dubord said, the women mentioned a wading pool in the backyard of the home. She told him there were dogs in the home and the pool was used to help the animals stay cool on hot days. The pool had been left filled with water that was becoming stagnant, attracting mosquitoes and was starting to smell.
Dubord had an officer go to the home to dump out the water. The officer then spoke to some of the neighbours to see if there were any other concerns.
“That’s about no-call-too-small,” he said. “And you know what that’s about, that’s about creating confidence in the police. That’s about a trust, that’s about a relationship... that’s what no-call-too-small does for Delta and I’m very, very proud to be able to say that we’re able to meet some of those expectations as the Delta Police Department because the Corporation of Delta has invested well in their police department.”
Lastly, Dubord spoke about his commitment to be an advocate for the needs of the community.
He told the group about a troubled child in Delta who ended up falling through the cracks. The youth had his first contact with police at 12 when a notebook with some disturbing writings and drawings was found outside a high school. The child was diagnosed with a mental illness and was hospitalized for a time.
“Unfortunately, sometimes the system doesn’t support the youth in the manner it does,” Dubord said.
Over the next seven years, the youth was reported missing six times, lived at 18 addresses and had more than 200 run-ins with police, 40 for violence or weapons-related offences. He was arrested for murder just one day after being released from jail on another violent crime.
“These are the kinds of things that we can bring forward and it’s through telling stories like this that we end up being able to bring change to a system that sometimes allows our youth to fall through the cracks, which we can’t allow to happen.”
Dubord told the crowd he needs help from members of the community to fulfill these commitments.
