Yellowknife (Mar 14/03) - This year is the 100th anniversary of the RCMP in the Northwest Territories -- the perfect year to hire a new history-buff boss.

Insp. Paul Richards is ready to travel North to be Yellowknife's new top cop. - photo courtesy of Melanie Roush

Insp. Paul Richards will take over as Yellowknife detachment commander next month, almost exactly 100 years after the police force established a presence at Fort McPherson. Richards, who will move to Yellowknife from Ottawa with his wife, has a history degree and writes about history, so the timing is very appropriate.

"It's kind of an interesting milestone for me personally, so that's certainly an aspect to this job," he said.

Richards is no stranger to issues North of 60. He cut his Northern policing teeth with the Yukon RCMP during its 100th year. He has 14 years experience with the RCMP, including the four-year post to Watson Lake in the Yukon.

Richards started his police career in Vancouver but was quickly placed in northern Saskatchewan.

He's coming to Yellowknife from Ottawa where he's been based for the past six years.

He describes his job in Yellowknife as a mix of hands-on policing, community participation and administrative work.

"I'll be supervising the operations of Yellowknife detachment and the personnel and working as closely with the community and government as I can to ensure public safety," he said.

"Basically, my role is to provide quality policing."

Wants to be approachable

Richards said he has an "open door" philosophy on his job. As much as time and job constraints allow, Richards said he'll be approachable and visible to the Yellowknifers he is serving.

"There's no mystery surrounding the operation of police -- of course there has to be a certain amount of secrecy -- but again, it's important in maintaining that dialogue and those bridges with the community.

"I think if anything through my career I've learned that building good relations, building bridges in the community with people, open discussions about problems and inclusiveness is the type of thing that works, I find."

Richards admits to being an optimist but said a positive attitude is a key for the role of a police officer.

"It isn't always that easy, I don't want to give it too much of a Pollyanna or rosy outlook, I think it's a difficult process but the reward is that you're helping people at a community level and hopefully solving problems."

Richards said it is the unique lifestyle and the challenges of living in the North that will bring him back. He's also itching to get away from his desk job and back onto the streets.

"I think what I'm looking forward to most is the challenges and getting back into operational policing," he said.

He has never been to Yellowknife but he brings a diverse resume with him.

He will leave a job working as a bridge between the commissioner of the RCMP and the Solicitor General of Canada.

"I take care of briefing and parliamentary correspondence in the House of Commons, as well as other duties and correspondence," he said.

Before that, Richards travelled the world with the RCMP as a war crimes consultant for the Canadian government.

"I've been to a lot of areas of conflict and dealt with a lot of victims of violent crime," he said.

He said the job brought him invaluable experience from the community level right up to the international stage.

"In 1999 I was with the first wave of NATO troops that was part of a UN forensic team that went into Kosovo," he said.

"In doing these things I've found that whether it's in a community in the Yukon or northern Saskatchewan, or I was further afield, the same principles applied."

14 years with RCMP

Richards started working with the RCMP in 1989 while he was finishing a history degree at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver.

He has since finished a master's degree in strategic studies from the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ont., and he's working on a doctorate in law enforcement policy by distance education from Australia.

Despite all his experience and education, Richards said it's the relationships he creates and work he does in ground level community policing which is most important.

"I hope people will see me on the street," he said. "I do believe in the philosophy of being hands-on to a certain extent, as much as my role will permit me," he said.

"I grew up in the school of policing where I learned the importance of being on the street.

"I want to see the challenges that the people face, I want to see what they're experiencing. That's an aspect that does interest me."

The position of division commander is typically held by a staff sergeant but Richards, who is an inspector, was interested in a job in the North.

Richards replaces Sgt. Al McCambridge, who temporarily held the position of commander.

The last full-time commander was Sgt. Terry Scott, who left the detachment last summer.