 Good morning everybody, family and friends, members of the Vancouver Police Department and our 26 newest members of Class 153 of the Vancouver Police Department. There are many special events that I attend as chief but perhaps none more important than this event. This is an important day for the recruits, for their families and for the Vancouver Police Department. It's a big day that you will always remember and we are standing here in a place of honour where we remember our 16 fallen officers who have gone before us because today you're not just being sworn in as police officers, you're being sworn in as police officers with the Vancouver Police Department and we've been policing this city with pride for the past 131 years since 1886 and it's a history that we're very proud of and you are now a part of that history and you also represent our future. The officer standing before you today will be retiring in the range of 2047 to 2050 somewhere up like that. It seems like a long way away but for me it's also important that I have good officers working that can look after me in my retirement. But I will tell you becoming a police officer with a VPD is not just something that stays with you during your career. It transcends that, it transcends into your life after retirement and just to give you an example of that, a long-serving police officer that retired about 35 years ago who was in his early 90s, he was a World War II veteran who just died yesterday. I was speaking with him just before Christmas and he was telling me stories about walking the beat in the downtown Eastside back in the 1950s, different cases he had in the 1960s and still to this day in December of 2016 when he was in his 90s how much that meant to him and the pride that he always carried of being a Vancouver police officer stuck with in his entire life. I know that's the same for all of our retired members. When you received your badge today from me I want you to think about that history I want you to think about the officers that have gone before you but I also want you to think about the great responsibility that comes with that badge. You will have certain powers now that members of the regular public did not have you will be able to arrest people, you will be able to use force in certain circumstances against people legally but I will tell you that police work is not like television and it will only be in a small number of cases that you will actually use force on people and the vast majority of cases that you go to well over 90% of the time it's your interpersonal skills, your ability to talk to people that will serve you well because when we attend a scene our job is to reduce tension to calm things down and restore peace and order and for new officers coming in the force I think the sooner that you realize and understand the intersection between law enforcement and policing and the various social issues that we deal with the police officers the more important it is for you for your learning issues like addiction, poverty, homelessness, alcoholism, mental health issues things that we deal with on a regular basis as a police officer you'll be dealing with people from very difficult situations, different walks of life people that come from backgrounds much different than probably your own backgrounds and you'll be dealing with people that are less fortunate than you and I always think it's the mark of a good person the way that you treat somebody that is less fortunate than yourselves so it's important to remember that respect and the compassion from people when you're responding to very difficult situations and that respect not only goes when we're dealing with members of the public it also goes internally in the police department before we have a very respectful workplace here we look after each other and we make sure that we're taking care of one another you know I see it every day the courage, the bravery, the great cases, the work that our Vancouver police officers are doing that the public doesn't often see these are things that are never reported in the media but the work that happens every day in this organization is most impressive and you're now part of that the people that you're standing alongside today, your academy mates these will be people that you will build a lifelong bond with over the next 30 years or so of your career it doesn't matter if you're a patrol officer, if you're a detective if you end up working undercover if you become a member of the emergency response team if you ride a horse in Stanley Park you become a supervisor, it doesn't matter 25 or 30 years from now when you run into these men and women that you're standing by today you will always have a very strong relationship with them and you're about to embark on a career where you really will be on the front seat of the roller coaster of life I'll guarantee you that throughout your career you're going to save people's lives you'll arrest dangerous criminals bank robbers, sexual predators you'll become involved in car chases you'll protect women from domestic violence and you will put yourself in harm's way to protect a citizen that you've never met before or a police officer that you don't even know and all the police officers and members of the Vancouver Police Department you see standing around you today they will do the same for you because while others are running away from the danger you'll be running towards it and helping people in times of need but it's not just about those dangerous situations or criminal situations that you'll be dealing with you're going to be dealing with sensitive issues like mothers who've lost their children troubled youth who need to push in the right direction to get back on track Alzheimer's patients who have wandered away from hospital and are disoriented and confused and scared people that are suicidal people that are in crisis and you'll be dealing with them on the worst possible day of their life they're the only person that they have to turn to and never underestimate the difference that you can make in somebody's life as a police officer and as a police officer coming into the VPD or into Canadian policing in 2017 you're going to face challenges the degeneration before you never faced cyber crime was something that didn't exist 30 years ago fentanyl was a word that nobody knew terrorism was something that seemed like it happened in countries on the other side of the world and had no impact on Canada but I'll tell you as we face these new challenges in 2017 and going forward in the next 5, 10, 15 years we're going to hit these challenges head on we're not going to shy away from them because they have full confidence in the men and women of the Vancouver Police Department that we're going to keep the citizens of Vancouver safe and we're up for these challenges our officers are smart they're fit, they're well trained professional police officers and we will keep the citizens of this city safe and it may sound a little bit biased when I say this but I honestly believe this is the best job in the world it's a very serious business that we're in but it's also a very fun job you're going to love your career it really is the best job ever to the family and friends that are here today I want to let you know that your loved ones have gone through a very vigorous process to get to this point we receive hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of applications every year for people that want to become Vancouver police officers they've gone through a very vigorous process and we have chosen the best of the best of all the applicants what they need from you right now is your understanding, your love and your support to help keep them well grounded and balanced and I would say that it's important to also make sure they maintain their friendships and their interests outside of policing as well because as a new police officer it's very easy to get absorbed into the world of policing and it can become a 24-7 focus so it's important to stay grounded in other things outside of policing and the importance of family support is huge for the physical and mental health of our officers my promise to you is that I will do my best to look after your loved ones I'll provide them with strong leadership at all levels of the organization we'll provide them excellent training and equipment and all the support we can to make them successful congratulations to our recruits and welcome to the VPD family