Whistler RCMP deals with 8,000 cases a year, from simple traffic incidents to cases of sexual assault. The detachment is also responsible for dealing annually with Pemberton’s 3,000 or so cases following the integration of the two detachments in 2003.
Add to that the Olympic Games, which are coming to the region in 2010, continued growth of tourism and expanding populations and anyone can see the area presents some unique challenges for policing.
Earlier this year Staff Sgt. Norman McPhail took over as head of the RCMP for Whistler and Pemberton. The father of two is no stranger to the resort. In fact it is his third tour of duty here since 1988.
Pique Newsmagazine
sat down to talk to him about the future of policing in the resort and the changes he has witnessed since he first worked here as a constable.Pique
: What do you see as some of the challenges of policing the Whistler region?Staff Sgt. Norman McPhail:
"It’s all about doing 2010 vision with 2020 planning. It is about trying to get the police operation into the state that it should be for the anticipated and significant growth coming to Whistler and beyond. Whistler is continually evolving as a resort destination, both in winter and summer, so we have to expand police operations in consideration of the clients that are coming to the area.Pique
: Obviously hosting the Olympics in 2010 is part of that growth. What are your thoughts on its impact on policing?NM
: The Olympics are going to bring added pressure. It is going to expose our area more to the world and people will see what a great place it is to live, and with that there will be policing challenges.Some of the challenges for Whistler are to ensure we have the proper structures in place so that when the support comes in we are ready for it. There is an onus on us to provide policing for the citizens of Whistler and to have some complementary linkages, but not to be responsible for the overall security.
Leading up to the Games we are going to have build up in various areas so we have to look at if we have adequate provincial policing resources to deal with all… the challenges. We are quite conscious of the fact that it is only five years until the Games and we have to have our act together.
I see our establishment increasing by at least a couple of police officers per year up to the Games.
Pique
: Will it be difficult to recruit officers to the area because of the region’s reputation as being an expensive place to live?NM
: One of the hold backs to staffing the area is that it is an expensive place to live. So anyone with a family, they will make their staffing choice to other communities because of more affordable housing, and a more affordable lifestyle. But we have been getting positive feedback on the issue from all the players thus far.Presently the RCMP within Whistler-Pemberton has nine government houses and those houses are provided to police supervisors, but that doesn’t provide housing for the rest of our constables or our staff.
Pique
: Will officers get special training for the Games?NM
: What I am doing is building a base of experienced people who know the resort…. As I get more police officers exposed they will have a portfolio that will work for us when we are called on by security personnel to lead other officers that will be required for the Games.And this experience will be invaluable beyond the Games, as other ski areas expand. This experience has got to be exported to those places. The province has challenged Whistler recently to lead in terms of the tourism industry and we want to do that with the policing experience as well and share how we have done things, like fortified our bylaws, worked with liquor licensing and how we have worked with stakeholder groups.
Pique
: What issues are you most concerned about?NM
: Highway safety is one of our main concerns. The redesign of the highway has made it safer in terms of travel… but now speed has become a significant issue for us. They have twinned up lots of lanes and people are going to be picking up speed and some people are not driving with due care and attention according to conditions.We need to have adequate resources both from the province and the municipal traffic section to deal with this. I would like to see two additional positions to deal with traffic, both between here and Squamish and especially between Pemberton and Whistler. We have commuter traffic and late night traffic on that route – people are finishing work and they are tired and all those kinds of things and we want to be on top of that.
(From January to October Pemberton had 1,237 traffic cases. From January to November Whistler had 2,567 traffic cases.)
Usually speed and alcohol are factors but not for every case.
The next most trying thing for us is related to liquor offences in the village.
Having no access to a local court house is also a huge issue. It costs about $80,000 a year for Whistler members to attend court in North Vancouver, which is 110 km away.
At the present time I am seeking support from the regional district and the village of Pemberton and Whistler and the province to regain access either to a court in Squamish or preferably the newly built courthouse in Pemberton for criminal matters.
Thefts and the like also affect the village and that is why we want to have a close working relationship with businesses. There are a lot of people who bring things with them like digital cameras, ski equipment, and things like that, so anyone wise in the criminal world will come up to Whistler, shop around the parking lots and see if there is anything available to steal.
Pique
: What about drugs in the village?NM
: There are drugs in the village. The main focus we deal with are people that come to a resort community, where they know that people are affluent and in a party mode, so there is… street level trafficking. You can buy what you need in the village if you want to buy cocaine or marijuana. We don’t have a huge problem, that I am aware of, with crystal methamphetamine, but there is starting to be some experimentation. There are larger cocaine issues in Pemberton and the surrounding area. There is some crystal methamphetamine, but not a huge amount.We do have large grow ops (300 to 1,000 plants) but they are more in the rural areas of Pemberton. In Whistler, you can get more for your place renting it out so it is not worth risking it. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t do it. Maybe it’s in a closet or a space they have not rented.
We have initiatives to deal with drug trafficking and we have had a lot of recent apprehensions where the officers have taken their own initiative to go out (and put themselves) in key positions to watch. Then (they) call other officers to apprehend the trafficker. And we have other initiatives coming down the pipe as well.
Pique
: What can you say to families and youths who live here about making choices about drugs.NM
: From my personal experience as a police officer all commodities in life are market based. So if you are buying marijuana at the street level just realize that the money you are handing to a dealer eventually makes its way into the hands of organized crime. Organized crime, without a doubt, controls the illicit drug trade within the province of B.C. So as you are buying it just realize that you are buying into things like prostitution, hard drug trafficking, and in some cases it is linked to international terrorism in various forms.That is one of the things I try to tell people and families.
Another whole side to the discussion is should marijuana be legalized? Well, I can’t really comment on that. But what I can comment on is that we have to keep (our) country (safe) and (maintain) a safe community, and as a police manager I feel responsible to (ask myself if I) am helping people make healthy choices.
If it is in a person’s home, and it is accepted by (the) parents, then the biggest statement (being) made is right there.
Pique
: How has integrating the RCMP in Whistler and Pemberton affected policing?NM
: Integrated policing is about the best use of police resources within budgets. …For Whistler and Pemberton (it’s) getting more police officers on the road with limited resources.We want fewer managers sitting in the office doing paperwork and, in fact, we are trying to eliminate paper systems (by) introducing electronic systems like links to PRIME-BC.
(In the spring under PRIME-BC RCMP local officers will be set up with the latest computer technology in their squad cars so that they can enter case data where ever they are, eliminating the need to return to their office and fill in paperwork. The data will also be immediately available to all police in the province. PRIME—BC is the police records management system.)
By integrating we are able to provide more supervision over a greater period of time and we are able to provide a larger response force.
Pique
: How has Whistler changed since you first took up a post here in 1988?NM
: What is interesting from the police perspective is that Whistler has changed significantly in terms of growth. It has become larger and the volume of people has increased significantly. That said, I am a member of Rotary and the core of the community, a lot of the older residents of Whistler, still live here. The issues within the village are still the same types of thing: the liquor, the noise and so on. The village is designed to be as user friendly as possible, but that said, it does have mixed late night entertainment with sleeping accommodations. Now we have more committees and councils to try to deal with those issues.The biggest change for me is that when I was first here it was under a provincial policing contract, so we were very limited in terms of the amount of resources that we had. When the municipality brought us in under a municipal policing contract it drastically improved our policing situation. The will here to do things and to do things on a forward thinking level is what is so intriguing to me as a police manager. People are willing to work toward positive outcomes that are considerate of the environment, considerate of how it impacts people at all levels, and considerate of all the differences as well.
Whistler is just close to my heart so I wanted to come back and see what I could do with Whistler and see what I can do with the Olympic Games. I wanted to see what I could do for this community to ensure that this community continues to grow and the policing continues to grow in a manner that is considerate of the beauty that is around here.
I have moved so many times in my career that when this opportunity came open it was where I wanted to be, so when they asked me to come back I sure wasn’t going to hesitate, and my family was right into it too. (McPhail’s 13-year-old son was born here.)
Pique
: We are seeing a lot more officers on the road and it was recently announced that the province would give 100 per cent of traffic fine revenue back to municipalities. Is there a connection?NM
: I very much support and encourage the officers to go out and sit at stop signs, and sit in school zones, and sit during commuter hours to and from Whistler to deal with the problems we have on our roads. I very much pressure the officers to go out onto the road to deal with impaired driving issues, which have been linked to a lot of recent deaths on the highway between Pemberton and Whistler. It is a priority. It is probably the number one thing that is commented on by the public in terms of the policing operation; next would be noise in the village.I encourage officers to provide tickets and why I do that is because statistics we have gathered over the years with regard to our traffic program show us that it is more effective to issue tickets than just give warnings.
It was a bit of a surprise to us that the (traffic fine) money was put in place. But with limited budgets and competing with health care and education, if there is another way that I can get some funds together to forward community police initiatives then I am all over it. Policing is a very expensive thing to pay off and if there is a way, through legitimate sources, to help offset those costs for the communities that are paying for policing that has got to be a good thing.
