Don’t expect major changes to how laws will be enforced under new Vancouver Police Chief Adam Palmer.
Palmer, a 28-year VPD veteran who leapfrogged the rank of superintendent when promoted from inspector to deputy chief in 2010, said he doesn’t intend to do run things much differently than popular predecessor Jim Chu, who announced his retirement plans in January after eight years as the city’s top cop.
“Jim Chu set a very good course for the VPD and we are at a very good time,” Palmer, 52, said at a press conference Friday morning at police headquarters on Cambie Street while flanked by Chu and Mayor Gregor Robertson. “We have very good credit with Canadians right now and I think we have a very good relationship with the city and the police board and I think things are going very well, so I’m not taking over a police department that is in any kind of turmoil or trouble. Jim Chu has been a very good mentor to me so I’m not planning any drastic changes. What I want to do is talk to people, get the pulse, get used to sitting in the chair and then we’ll look if we need to make any decisions or make any changes.”
Palmer, who became the sole candidate for the job after fellow deputy chief Doug LePard withdrew from consideration and supported Palmer, was appointed unanimously by the eight member police board chaired by Robertson and won’t officially take over until sometime in the next few weeks. . He said tackling the city’s mental health problems, which Chu and Robertson have described as a crisis, will remain a top priority.
“That’s one that we’re going to keep noses to the grindstone to and have yet to make a difference in because there a lot of people hurting in our society and we’ll do our best to help them,” said Palmer. “There are things up in the air right now. We have the announcement of the new St. Paul’s hospital opening, so we’re looking at how that is going to affect and what any implications are going to be for the police department regarding our ACT [assertive community treatment] teams or assertive outreach teams or our early warning system where we work with Vancouver Coastal Health with information sharing agreements.”
He also addressed concerns that are police resources are being stretched too thin by pointing out several new hires are on their way.
“We addressed that last year because we had a very thorough resource allocation review. Right now we are waiting for a couple of academy classes to graduate and when they do graduate will be let out right on the front lines. We have about 40 or so coming up in the next couple of months.”
Chu, 56, dismissed a rumour he was interested in taking over from departing Toronto police chief Bill Blair but remained coy when asked about another one about possibly running for political office.
“I have not applied for any other policing jobs,” said Chu. “I love the city of Vancouver and … I’m not interested in leaving the city of Vancouver. I’m going to take some time off and support the new chief as much as I can and we’ll see how the future unfolds. My wife gave me some orders to take some time off and hang out with her.”
* Note: This story has been clarified since originally posted.
