Gil Yard, a 33-year RCMP veteran, new police chief THE NEW North Vancouver RCMP superintendent has come home. By Anna Marie D’Angelo News Reporter Gil Yard who was transferred down from Prince Rupert after a four-year stint used to live in North Vancouver and West Vancouver when he was. stationed at the Vancouver RCMP headquarters. “When the offer came through to - come down to North Vancouver with the family connections down here, 1 was more than happy. The challenge was here too,” said Yard, 53. Hig daughter Jives in North Vancouver and works for a bank in Vancouver, . His sons live outside the Lower Mainland. One son is a RCMP con- stable in Fort St. John; the other lives in Nelson where he works at ‘the Canadian International College which has ties with the Dollarton Highway campus. “My wife was the administrative assistant to the CEO of the Fort. of Prince Rupert. But she is currently - " just :wrestling with boxes in our: apartment,” laughed Yard during a recent interview. He took up top job at the North - Vancouver detachment at the begin- ning of October. Before that. Yard worked in Prince Rupert as an inspector, sec- ond in charge of the northern subdi- vision. Yard said one e of his top priorities “here was to make: sure the new police building stays on track. He said there should be a hole in the ground to mark the construction start by April. The building is slated to be completed the following year at the site of the current detach- ment’s back parking lot. Meanwhile, the cramped 13th Street and St..Georges Avenue detachment is a little less crowded these days. The special investigations . and community policing sections were moved into a separate building near Lions Gate. Hospital’s psychiatric wing in the summer. “It (the separation) is awkward to ‘the extent that we don’t have the open’ lines of communication between the group of people doing the regular street police and patrol Yard talks poli NEW NORTH Vancouver RCMP Superintendent Gil Yard comments... Qn the Wally Oppal report on policing and the community: I guess I was disappointed when I read some of the things that ended up emphasized. As much as I recog- nized that certain things happened and certain groups of people have negative feelings about the police, | also recognize that those were rela- tively isolated incidents. On the other hand, there is a tremendous volume of excellent work done by police officers every- day... These people are sort of laying out their hearts and souls for the job and to have a report come down with as many negative aspects as the Oppal Report seems to do, has hurt those people... On a proposed RCMP “assecia- tion” (quasi union) stemming fros: federal wage freezes and other employee beefs: work and so on and ‘the serious crime investigators and the commu- nity relations victim services pco- ple.” said Yard. Yard said that the detachment's notorious morale problem was not evident. “[T haven't seen any real overt signs that morale was a problem at the North Vancouver detachment “In fact, I'd say the opposite. NEWS photo Mike Wakefield NEW NORTH Vancouver RCMP superintendent Gil Yard. Morale is quite reasonable under the circumstances,” said Yard. He was aware of the high cost of housing in North Vancouver which is attributed as the biggest reason why the majority of the force lives elsewhere. “The cost of housing on the North Shore is a difficult one to deal with. I don’t know how we could get around that,” said Yard. Yard has been with the RCMP for 33 years. He has worked at Vancouver RCMP headquarters and also in: Ottawa, Manitoba and Alberta. His upbringing was spread out as well. Yard was born in Duncan and raised in Victoria, Kelowna and Trail. He joined the force in 1961 because he was out of work at the time. “I dida’t have a lifelong ambition to join the force, But I was in it two or three months when it became readily apparent that I had made the tight choice,” said Yard. C m4 Tieate) ; : ay These are difficult times for the federal police force as well. We are dealing with increment freezes and salary freezes in’ an area where the cost of living and cost of housing are escalating. This is bringing to bear very seri- ous problems for younger members. Necessarily, perhaps they look at different methods of dealing with ‘that. (personally am not in favor of an association as such. [ believe what we have: cooperation between man- agement and membership, is the way to deal with these issues. It is my intent that my adminis- tration here will be a very open one. On the provincial Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (which outlines new rales concerning information police release to the public): ht will not affect us a great deal, | suspect... I personally think the community has a right to know what the police are doing. fresh, boneless pork butt roast 3.86kg Ib. 505974 fresh Ce 532903 no name club pack™ brownies package of 16 005249 611939 no name™, 525g corn flakes 349340 At this price limit 2, over limit 1.88 Savarin, 295-307g, assorted frozen Gi 724484 Pop Secret, microwave, assorted, 725g 480202 Coke or Sprite, reg. or diet, 12 pack drinks plus deposit Prices in effect until closing Saturday, November 26/94, while stocks last. We reserve the right to timit'quantities. ew pep sm