Jeff Pelley is taking on the Superintendent position with the Kamloops RCMP. He joined The NL Morning News to talk a little about who he is and what he is all about before officially taking over from outgoing Supt. Syd Lecky.
Take me through your policing background and how you eventually ended up as the Supt. for the Kamloops RCMP.
My policing background is I joined the RCMP in 1999 I started out in Prince Rupert. I was posted to Kamloops as a frontline constable from 2003 to 2006. I moved on from there to Kelowna, Hundred Mile House where I was promoted to Corporal then I was the detachment commander in New Hazleton and then I moved on to Williams Lake where I was the district advisory Staff Sergeant for six detachments and then I transferred over to the officer in charge of Williams Lake detachment where I remain from 2016 to 2021. And then I transferred into Kamloops here as your Operations Officer or number two to Superintendent Lecky. I grew up in the Cache Creek/Ashcroft area. I have family throughout the area. My my spouse is a civilian member with RCMP and she’s here in Kamloops as well. We met here in Kamloops many years ago, and we have a a 10 year old and a 14 year old.
You were here in the mid 2000s and now you’re back as of 2021. How has the community changed? With a 15 year gap, I imagine things must look a bit different.
Absolutely. I worked both areas. The North Shore and the south shore. I also worked in serious crime. It’s growing immensely. There still are some similarities. There still are some of the same criminals they engaged in crime and again, the demographics have grown. It’s quite astounding to see that. But again, as for a lot of change, it’s in not only as the city grows but also how each of the corridors look in downtown, North Shore and it certainly looks like there has been in great improvements over the years.
What do you love about this city? You chose to come back here so there must be something that’s that’s attracted you outside of a great job opportunity. What about Kamloops made you want to come back?
I like Kamloops. I never would have left Kamloops, but some changes in the positions that occurred for my family. I went to, I guess it would have been University College or the Cariboo when I was here previously, and I intended to be long term. So again, I always aspired to come back to Kamloops and as you move through different ranks in the RCMP and limited opportunity, it’s an honor and privilege to have been able to come back and now serve as the Detachment Commander. I’m invested in this community, I want to make a difference. It’s amazing to see the work that the women and men do here every day, the officers, the support staff. There’s still a number of officers that are here from when I was first here 17 years ago and I look forward to having that long term invested interest in this community.
Do you have one thing that you kind of look at and say, ‘when I’m retired from this position, I will be so happy that I achieved this’?
That’s a very big loaded question. I certainly want to commend the members for the efforts and staff that they have to make this community safer. I want to continue to drive down that crime, the violent crime, the property crime. We’ve had some increases in some areas and we’ve had decreases in other areas. Or even the perception of it… I want more accountability to certain repeat offenders. I guess that would be my ultimate objective.
How do we accomplish that? I mean, again, I know another loaded question. But like this is something that has been going on for quite some time, we’ve asked a lot of different people that same question, how do we deal with these repeat offenders? Do you feel like there’s actually a solution that could be coming sooner than later?
A release had come publicly about repeat offenders. I don’t know formally what that strategy involves, but a lot of those things we’ve been very progressive on that front with repeat offenders. Whether it’s enforcement, prevention or intervention, I want to be more progressive on the crime reduction front and our specialized units and our frontline units working in collaboration for those offenders that are ultimately responsible for the more serious crime or the habitual repeat offenses where they’re back into our community. And we’ve had some great successes lately and there’s a lot more work to do. We’re going to continue to strive and be assertive on that front.
How do you plan to utilize some of the community partners you have at your disposal? Such as Community Service Officers and Mental Health workers who can help take some of the non-police calls off of your plate?
The Community Service Officer Program is very effective. I see a lot of aspects that they’re engaged in from the nuisance properties to supporting our officers on the front line, the homeless camps, even through prevention aspects throughout the community. Working in partnership with the police officers where we’re getting more of a community presence, we’re being able to focus on those strategies and collaborate, while police officers are focusing on the criminal acts. So, I think it’s very effective and coming from other communities where I’ve been the detachment commander, it’s very progressive and I see some great things moving ahead with with that team and working with many of our different units. Whether it’s our frontline officers or Car 40, our crime reduction units and we’ve had some recent successes in making some areas more safe, and even crime prevention with business owners. But we still see a sense of frustration with certain repeat, low end offenders. That’s where we’re going to be more effective in working together and bringing a kind of a multi prong solution to many neighborhoods or business communities.
When it comes to policing in Kamloops, is there anything that is unique about this community? Your predecessor spoke to some of the unique challenges that the gang issue has posed in the city.
I mean, the previous community I came from had multiple gangs. We are aware of the drug trafficking sub-culture that’s going on and the violence entrenched within it. I am passionate about that. We have strategies in place and we’re going to be continuing on those enforcement efforts and holding individuals accountable. I think superintendent Leckie is right, he said he wanted to tackle them more and I think he has been tackling it. Especially with some of the localized expertise that we have in the specialized units and very progressive because to be frank, I see some of these individuals that were quite prominent when I was here 17 years ago that are still entrenched here locally and we’re going to be very assertive on those individuals.
What do you like to do when you’re not on duty?
That’s a tough one, because it’s sometimes long hours here, but not as long as some of our frontline officers. I do like the community for playing baseball. My daughter’s in swimming. My son is in hockey. I like the mountain biking, we like the water sports. So there’s lots of great opportunity here. And I love the weather and being back here because I know they got skiffs of snow up north, not too far away and yet it’s still 10 or 11 degrees here. So again, it’s great to be back here and I look forward to us working to focus on our strategic priorities and make our community safer.
