 Good morning welcome family and friends, ladies and gentlemen, members of the Vancouver Police Department and our 30 newest police officers of the VPD, one more round of applause. There are many important events that I attend as chief of the Vancouver Police Department but perhaps none more important than a swearing-in ceremony because today is a very important day in the lives not only of these officers and their families but also in the history of the Vancouver Police Department. It's a big day that you will always remember and guarantee you for the rest of your life. And today you're being sworn in not just as police officers but as members of the Vancouver Police Department and we've been policing this city with pride since 1886 for the past 131 years and you now represent part of that history. But you also represent our future because the officer standing before you today will be here and not retiring until probably the area around 2047 to 2050 which seems like a long way away. So it's part of my responsibility as chief to make sure that we're setting up the department well for the future but I also want to make sure I've got some good people to look after me in my old age. But when I say it stays with you for a long time and it will transcend retirement, your history and your services of Vancouver Police Officer and I tend a lot of events with retired police officers and I was at an event recently where we had officers there who had served in World War II, officers that retired back in the late 70s and early 1980s, they retired before most of you were born. But even 35, 40 years later after their retirement these officers still remember and still talk about their service to Vancouver and how much it meant to them and what a difference it made in their lives and the difference they made to the community. So today when I swear you in and you have your nice new badge in your hand, I know that you're going to take it home and you're going to show it to your husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, your parents, all your friends, it's it's very exciting getting the new badge, it's a real symbol of a police officer but just remember that with that badge comes a lot of responsibility. You will have the authority to arrest people, you'll have the authority to use force, if somebody's trying to use force against you or a member of the public but with that comes great responsibility and it's not like television. In the vast majority of cases the thing that will get you through is not your ability to use force which of course we will train you in but it's your ability to connect with people and use your interpersonal skills and how you deal with people that will serve you best and it's important for young police officers to recognize early on that intersection between law enforcement and social issues because we're not just about law enforcement, we're about public safety and making people in the city feel safe when people are walking their kids to school, when tourists arrive on a cruise ship, when people are coming to work every day we want people to feel safe in their communities and a lot of the social issues I'm talking about are the things you know but you will really experience it firsthand as a police officer whether it's mental health issues, homelessness issues, addiction issues and when we go into these situations as police officers we're there to calm things down restore order de-escalate and make sense of a situation that's out of control and we will put you in many many difficult situations throughout your career I guarantee that and you'll be dealing with people from all different walks of life from backgrounds that are less fortunate than your own but I'll tell you that it's always the mark of a good person is how you treat somebody that's less fortunate than yourselves and if you work hard treat people with respect live by those simple rules and remember our values of integrity, compassion, accountability, respect and excellence it will serve you well throughout your entire career and that respect is not only how we're dealing with the public on the outside but how we deal with each other internally within the police department it's so important that we have a healthy and respectful workplace there's so much amazing work going on in this police department that I see every day unfortunately sometimes in the media you will just hear about the negative things that are happening with police some sort of salacious story something that's a headline grabber but every day I sit down in the morning with our team and I hear about all the great work that's happened over the past 24 hours of our officers there's another amazing case that just happened this week where we had a very serious threat to public safety and many of our detectives that work in this building our surveillance people our forensic specialists our patrol officers everybody pulled together and solved that crime in a very short period of time and got a very significant public safety threat off of our streets the people that you're standing with today your academy mates you've got a long journey ahead with them and these folks that you're standing with badge numbers 3112 to 3141 the newest members of the vpd these 30 officers no matter where you end up in your career whether you're a patrol officer a detective you're riding a motorcycle you're on a horse in stanley park you're pelling down buildings as a member of the emergency response team you go on to become a supervisor whatever career path you take I'll guarantee you that 25 or 30 years from now when you run into the other people in your class you will still have that strong connection no matter where your career takes you and today you really do begin your journey as I like to say on the front seat on the roller coaster of life because during your career you will save people's lives you will arrest dangerous criminals bank robbers dangerous sexual predators you'll get involved in vehicle pursuits you'll rescue people from domestic violence and you'll put yourself in harm's way to protect yourself a fellow citizen or another police officer and the other people that you see standing around in this room that you don't know yet those people will come running to help you when you're in time of need as well while other people run from danger you're going to be running into the danger helping citizens in our city but it's not just about those types of calls that really make a difference it's all the other things that sometimes people forget that police officers do finding lost kids you'll be dealing with distraught mothers who whose kid is lost in stanley park or cases like that you'll be dealing with troubled youth and kids who sometimes get into trouble but they're not necessarily bad kids they're just kids that need a bit of a leg up in life and they need some direction and they need good role models and people to steer them on the right path which is stuff that our police officers do all the time you'll be dealing with alzheimer's patients parkinson's patients people that wander away and are confused and they need somebody to take care of them and you'll be dealing with people that are suicidal you'll be out there at one o'clock in the morning standing on the edge of a bridge talking to somebody that's contemplating taking their own life and the only person that they have to turn to at that moment in their life is going to be you a member of the vancouver police department and i don't want you to ever underestimate the difference that you can make as a police officer because it's significant and the challenges that these new officers will face with issues that the generation before them didn't even think about 30 years ago when they started things like counter-terrorism and national security issues cyber crime fentanyl crisis these sorts of words or terminology wasn't even on the radar these weren't even things that we considered but even though we're facing all these new challenges going forward i'm confident in the abilities of the vancouver police department and we're going to take these challenges head on and we're going to keep the city safe because our police officers they're smart they're fit they're well trained they're professional and we're going to take care of safety in this city this really is the best career in the world it's a serious business that we're in but it's also a fun job and you're going to have a great time during your career to the family and friends in the audience thank you so much for being here i can't tell you how much your love and support is going to mean to our new officers and that love and support has to continue throughout their career because policing can be all-encompassing especially for a new officer you can live and breathe it 24-7 it's important that they keep their family interests their friends all those interests that they have in sports and other activities beyond becoming a member of the police department and it will be up to you to help keep them grounded as they move forward family support is absolutely crucial to this success of a police officer but my promise to you is that i will do my best as chief to make sure that we give them the best training the best leadership the best equipment and that leadership will run throughout the organization as it does from my office right down to the frontline supervisors on the road and we have excellent sergeants who will provide guidance and field trainers who will provide excellent training to these officers as they begin their journey but to all of you you are now part of the vancouver police department extended family so welcome to the family as well thank you very much welcome to the vancouver police department and a big round of applause for class 154