Jamie Graham

Chief Constable Jamie H. Graham
Chief Constable of Vancouver
In office August 22, 2002 – August 22, 2007
Preceded by	Terry Blythe
Succeeded by	Jim Chu
Personal details
Born	Belleville, Ontario
Nationality	Canadian
Spouse	Gail Graham
Children	none
Occupation	Police officer

Jamie Graham has been the Chief Constable of Vancouver, British Columbia, since 2002. A former Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer, Graham is popular with his officers, but has often been criticized by community groups and the press. Graham's contract with the Vancouver Police Department expires August 22, 2007, and he has announced that he will not seek a second term.

Graham was born in Belleville, Ontario. The son of a Canadian Army Colonel, he lived in Halifax, New Delhi, and Quantico, Virginia. He attended King’s College, a boarding school in Nova Scotia. Poor grades prevented him from enrolling in the Royal Military College at Kingston, a fact he often jokes about. He and his wife, lawyer Gail Graham, have been married 22 years and have no children.

Policing career

Graham was a 34-year veteran of the RCMP when he was hired as Vancouver’s police chief. He was chosen for the job over a field of competitors for that included Larry Campbell, who went on to become Graham’s boss as Vancouver’s mayor. He was Chief Superintendent of the Surrey detachment from 2000 to 2002, and before that commanded the North Vancouver detachment from 1992 to 2000.

Graham is popular with his officers, and has improved morale during his tenure. Former Vancouver mayor Philip Owen noted "He's a cop throughout, and that's what the members of the department like. They like a strong leader." Many officers describe him as the best chief in the history of the department.

In his role as Chief Constable, Graham is an active member of a number of policing and community organisations. He is a member of the by-law committee of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, and sits on the Executive Committee of the Criminal Intelligence Service Canada and the board of governance of the Combined Forces Special Investigation Unit. He took on a leadership role in the “Tier 1 Strategy” against outlaw motorcycle gangs. A member of the British Columbia Association of Police Chiefs, Graham chairs its Gaming and Mental Heath committees, and represents the BCAPC on the board of the Integrated Illegal Gambling Enforcement team. He is a member of the Vancouver Board of Trade. Other organisations he has worked with include the North Vancouver Restorative Justice Society, the Justice Institute of British Columbia and the Surrey Memorial Hospital Foundation.

Graham established a Public Affairs and Marketing section in the department, which handles contact with the media and the public.

On February 22, 2007, Graham announced that he will retire when his contract is over in August. Jim Chu was named as successor to Graham on June 21, 2007.

Awards and Recognitions

[True Lies]The Governor General, the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, appointed Jamie Graham a member of the Order of St. John on December 15, 2006..

Controversy and criticism

Graham and his department have been embroiled in controversies throughout his term. Graham has been critised by local media, particularly the Georgia Straight, which has characterised him as too entrenched in traditional police culture to effectively respond to problems of misconduct.

In January of 2003, three men were beaten by police officers in Stanley Park. Graham recommended that six officers be charged in connection with the assault. He later fired two of them, after they plead guilty to the charges.

Pivot Legal Society published To Serve and Protect: A Report on Policing in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside in 2002, which documented various affidavits from residents regarding police misconduct. Pivot also filed a number of complaints against the VPD with the Police Complaint Commissioner, Dirk Ryneveld. In 2005, Ryneveld issued a report stating, "What we do know is that RCMP ultimately reported the very regrettable circumstance of a lack of cooperation on the part of 'certain VPD members,' also incidents of non-responsiveness by the police chief himself." Mayor Sam Sullivan dismissed the non-cooperation complaint in May, 2007, stating that there was no practical way to discipline a retiring police chief, but Ryneveld overruled him, demanding that a further investigation take place.

During the 2005 municipal elections, Graham had Sullivan, then a candidate for mayor, investigated for his admission that he had given money to addicts to buy drugs and allowed one to smoke crack in his van. An editoral in the Georgia Straight attacked the investigation as a political move.

Graham has pledged his and his department's support of Insite, Vancouver's controversial safe-injection site, which has drawn critism from conserative groups, including the RCMP. Noting that "our organization's primary responsibilities are safety and public order," Graham has defended the program, and called for an extension of its exemption from Canadian drug laws.

In April of 2006, RCMP investigators cleared Graham of misappropriating funds related to a 2004 police conference.

In July of 2006, Graham left a paper target riddled with bullet holes on the desk of city manager Judy Rodgers, his boss. He had written on it, “A bad day at the range is better than the best day at work.” He later apologized for the incident, which he said had been meant as a joke, not a threat.

External Links

• Vancouver Police Chief Jamie Graham rejects idea for Project Civil City commissioner
• Top Cop Profiles Homeless

Sources

• Office of the Chief Constable from City of Vancouver webpage (retrieved June 23, 2007)
• Larry Pynn, “Archives: Jamie Graham’s time as chief of police” in Vancouver Sun, June 14, 2007 (retrieved June 23, 2007)
• Jonathan Fowlie, with a file from Frances Bula Watchdog orders probe of police chief June 15, 2007, (retrieved June 23, 2007)
• Shannon Rupp, Urban General in Georgia Straight, December 1, 2005 (retrieved June 23, 2007)