Supt. Syd Lecky (image credit - CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

LECKY PROMOTED

Supt. Syd Lecky reflects on four years serving Kamloops

Aug 19, 2022 | 4:15 PM

KAMLOOPS — Kamloops RCMP’s top cop, Supt. Syd Lecky is leaving the city after four years of serving in his position. Lecky is pursuing a new position as he is going to the Northwest Territories to become the Chief Superintendent stationed in Yellowknife.

“If you start thinking you can sit in this chair and feel you have accomplished your role, you are wrong. It’s always a moving target, and we just have to continue to adjust and strive to do a better job,” said Lecky on Friday as he looked back at how policing has changed over his tenure in Kamloops.

Lecky took over the reigns of the Kamloops RCMP in July of 2018. When he first met with the media, he highlighted four main priorities, traffic, crime reduction, organized crime and his top priority of community safety.

Overall, the landscape of policing has changed dramatically over Lecky’s tenure in Kamloops.

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“That case law has resulted in policy changes and when you look at it all, it really has impacted our ability to address the crime that you see on the streets… and not always crime, but what you see the public is not happy with on our streets,” stated Lecky.

The job of finding Lecky’s replacement will be one of Mayor Ken Christian’s final tasks in office. He thanked Lecky for his dedication to the city through some unprecedented years.

“It’s been a very difficult time to be the Officer-in-Charge of the Kamloops detachment. Some extraordinary emergency events and certainly the increase in the issues relating to homelessness and social issues, domestic issues in Kamloops,” said Christian.

“The impact of the 215, these are all happening, wildfires, floods, all of this has happened in the last four years. The fallout of people coming in from evacuated areas have impacted our policing resources, our file counts,” added Lecky.

Crime reduction was an over-arching theme for Lecky when he came to Kamloops. He spoke to the ability of police to hold people as a challenge in targeting prolific offenders.

“Now the onus is on police and the justice system, the courts, to release people with the least amount of conditions of them as possible. Well, if that is the case it becomes a little more challenging to hold some people accountable,” said Lecky

With offenders routinely being released with limited conditions, the RCMP has been forced to arrest the same people multiple times before they end up in front of a judge.

“We are arresting people four, five, six times now on warrants. If that is happening, those people are, oftentimes, continuing to offend. They didn’t go to court, they haven’t been showing up to court and oftentimes you combine that with addiction or whatever the other issues are and that will continue to impact, especially, our property crime rates.”

Lecky will remain in Kamloops until the fall before taking his new post in the Northwest Territories.

We will have part two of our sit down with Supt. Syd Lecky on Monday (Aug. 22) where he discusses some of the issues and challenges the next detachment commander will face.