PROFILE OF CHILLIWACK'S TOP COP: THIS BUD'S FOR YOU

The office is impeccable. Not so much as a piece of paper ... anywhere.
With nothing to catch the eye, it's easy to be distracted by the colourful
stained-glass artworks leaning against the window.

But focus is quickly reclaimed by Insp. Bud Mercer, Chilliwack's new chief
of police. The handshake is firm, the eye contact direct.

He means business.

"When I was a dog handler here, I never for a moment thought I'd ever be an
inspector," he says with complete candour. "Not for a moment!"

The change in career direction, straight up, actually began with an injury.
The former RCMP dog handler hurt himself jumping from a helicopter when he
was dealing with some environmentalists in the Queen Charlotte Islands five
or six years ago.

With recuperation, police service dogs were traded for police patrol
bicycles. But the very day he was to take over as head of the local unit,
came word he'd been promoted to sergeant and won the position of watch
commander.

"After a year as watch commander, I thought why not become a commissioned
officer?" he reasons.

So it was, Insp. Mercer became Chilliwack's top cop on April 15 this year.
He's no longer on `the front lines' so to speak, but he never leaves at the
end of the day not feeling fulfilled.

He's taken to leadership like a duck to water.

"The position comes with some distance from others, but I minimize it," he
explains. "My role is to show my officers the starting line and to have a
vague idea of the finish line. They choose the path.

"I expect and accept the buck stops with me. That's what leadership and
management is about. But I have such a good group of people -- the cream of
the crop -- I'd be foolish to not use that talent."

Times have changed since Insp. Mercer's first posting to Chilliwack. There
are big-city problems now. And big-city crimes.

"I've restructured the detachment around crime trends," he says with
disarming logic. "There are two full-time drug units, one just for grow
ops. A third is a street-crime unit and a new NCO position has been created
to ensure they all mesh and work together."

But Insp. Mercer is more than a police officer, he's also a parent. And
drugs are his concern on both levels.

"We give kids mixed messages," he says in frustration. "We spend time and
money on the D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) programs, and then
we talk about legalizing marijuana. Even if you legalize it, there'll still
be illegal grow ops. Grow ops are run by organized crime and Asian triads.
And grow op operators have criminal pasts. You don't want them in your
neighbourhood or anywhere around it. And ... illegal drug operations often
result in fires."

It's with sincere gratitude he adds that his convictions have the complete
cooperation of the mayor and City Hall.

"The detachment isn't a fortress ... we (RCMP officers) belong to the city
... that's why we have media and school liaison officers. Policing is
always easier when the public relations component is active and healthy,"
Insp. Mercer notes. "And any officer knows he or she must always take the
high road. There's no future in lowering yourself."

Of course there are times of high adrenalin. Moments of personal danger.
And while every officer is, by definition, a people person, he or she must
be able to handle deadly-force scenarios.

In all his 26 career years of postings in Newfoundland, the Territories,
east and west Arctic, Alberta and B.C., Insp. Mercer has never had a bad
one. And, given a magic wand, he would wish some of his rich and diverse
experience on today's young members. The exposure to such an assortment of
policing requirements can, he says, result in a better officer.

"Here, as chief of police, I'm in a position where I can make a
difference," he says. "I never take the safe route, even if it means
controversy. I never accept the status quo that's handed me. I believe in
being proactive and effective in promoting crime prevention and public
education as well as law enforcement.

"Above all, I want to be remembered as having been focused and as having
made a positive difference with our youth. And to do that, I will change
this office as required.

"Chilliwack deserves to get first-class police service and, in this
detachment, the city has some of the best officers there are. This is a
desired posting, and I hand pick the officers accepted."