If you didn’t know anything about RCMP Supt. David Fleugel, you could start filling in the blanks by looking around his office.
There’s a certificate on his wall that says he’s a “distinguished sharpshooter.” There are police hats, including one from the NYPD and FBI, and a nearby certificate of a course completed with the FBI. There’s a photo of him and his family – wife and three sons – with former Mayor Ernie Daykin.
And there is an little case displaying his collection of police challenge coins.
Soon it will all be coming down off the walls, as Fleugel, 49, is retiring from the RCMP at the end of March, and taking a new position as chief constable of Port Moody Police.
RCMP officers are able to retire with a full pension after 25 years.
A distinguished sharpshooter certificate from E Division reflects the many roles Fleugel has had in the RCMP during his 25-year career.
He joined the force in 1992 in Ottawa after receiving a bachelor's degree in sociology and criminology from Carleton University.
He has spent most of his career in the Lower Mainland, and in one incarnation was a firearms instructor working out of Chilliwack.
He never did any real shooting before becoming a police officer, but he took to it like a natural.
“Sharpshooter” means he nailed the target silhouette on 300 straight shots.
His career has been on target.
Fleugel has been the officer in charge of the Ridge Meadows detachment since July 2013, when he took over from Supt. David Walsh.
Fleugel came here from Burnaby, the second largest RCMP detachment in Canada with almost 300 members, where he was second in command.
“That was a big operation, and that was a pretty steep learning curve, as well,” he said.
One of the highlights of his career was being chosen for a 10-week training course at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia in 2012.
“Basically, it was a leadership school for police executives, and I trained with 250 international leaders in law enforcement.”
For him, it reaffirmed how institutions like the FBI, LAPD or RCMP have formed their reputations.
“It sounds corny, but it really is about the people,” he said. “It’s about the individual officers making individual connections on a day-by-day or hour-by-hour basis, with citizens that form an opinion about how they were treated. And it’s the constellation of that which results in your internal culture and your reputation as a police force.”
After two years as the second in command here, the job as detachment commander in Maple Ridge was his , and it brought new challenges.
“It’s a lot of responsibility. It’s a lot of weight,” he said.
He felt responsible for the safety of 127 officers who work at the detachment, and also public safety.
“You are seen by the public as providing public safety. You can’t take a shift off – it’s not like we can take a snow day. There are always police out there, there’s always calls for service,” he said. “That never ever stops.”
He has been a more visible detachment commander than many, and says that was by design.
“It’s an expectation that the RCMP and the city councils have placed on police leaders to try to be out in the community more, to try to help the community understand complex issues, whether it be crime-related or even some of our social challenges,” he said.
“I believe it’s a necessary part of being a detachment commander to try to lead the community on some of these issues.”
One issue police have grappled with is homelessness, and Fleugel has been outspoken that society cannot “arrest its way out of this problem.”
He said social issues are increasingly a challenge for police forces across Canada, and that will be a focus for his replacement.
“The police are being tasked more and more with trying to intercede on social issues,” he said, noting police are called about everything from online bullying, conflicts at school to untreated mentally illness, but that the justice system is not always the best way to deal with such issues.
“Police are on duty 24/7 and three digits, 9-1-1, will get us every time,” he said. “But we find a lot of the other supports that ought to be dealing with a lot of those other issues are not as robust as they need to be based on the level of need.”
Fleugel will be missed.
“I sent him a huge congratulations! Our loss is clearly Pt. Moody’s gain,” Pitt Meadows Coun. Bill Dingwall said on his Facebook page.
“He is an extremely strong and talented professional and leader, and served our community well,” Dingwall, a former RCMP detachment commander, said of Fleugel.
In the fall, there was an external audit of the Ridge Meadows RCMP detachment. It looked at internal culture and morale, community perception of the detachment and compliance with RCMP policy. The 17 reviewers spent a week at the detachment.
They found an engaged workforce with high morale and job satisfaction, and external clients such as school officials and business organizations demonstrated a high degree of trust.
“I’m really proud of what we’ve done, where we’ve been, and where we’ve taken this place,” Fleugel said.
Would he recommend that his three sons become police officers?
“We’ve had those conversations at my house, that it is absolutely an option. It has been a phenomenal career for me. I joined when I was 25 years old, and grew up in the force, to some degree.”
The Port Moody job brings new challenges, though, such as hiring staff and running a police force without the support system of the RCMP’s national infrastructure.
He’s looking forward to the new challenge.
“Stay doing what I love to do, in a place where I love to do it.”
Fleugel plans to work another 10 years, and said it is not uncommon for people to have 35-year careers in the RCMP.
One advantage to the RCMP over a municipal force like Port Moody is the opportunity to travel and work in other provinces, but would rather stay in the Lower Mainland, and the Port Moody position allows him to do that.
“That was a big part of my decision, knowing that I could stay doing what I love to do, in a place that I love to do it.”
He weighed the types of jobs that might be available at the provincial E Division headquarters, which would be “exciting and challenging,” against the chief position in Port Moody
“I feel most energized by being in a place like this – being in a community where you are connecting with the young people, the police officers actually providing the service and mentoring them, connecting with stakeholders and businesses – that’s where I feel I can add the most value to a community.”
He said the PoMo police board wants a chief who is visible and connected to the city.
“I do believe Port Moody is going to offer me significant challenges, to learn that culture and learn that city.”