NWT RCMP acquiring new boss from Kamloops as Zettler leaves

NWT RCMP’s new chief superintendent will be Syd Lecky, the present leader of Kamloops RCMP, the City of Kamloops said on Monday.

Announcing Lecky’s departure, a City of Kamloops news release stated he would become chief superintendent of RCMP in the Northwest Territories later in the fall.

Lecky replaces Jamie Zettler. After this article was first published, NWT RCMP confirmed Lecky’s appointment and said Zettler departed Yellowknife last week to a new posting in Ontario, following five and a half years of service in the NWT.

Supt Jeff Christie is the interim commanding officer.

In a statement, Mayor of Kamloops Ken Christian said Lecky had “provided consistent and exemplary leadership through a series of disasters and emergencies unprecedented in our history.”

Christian added: “He has moved policing towards a more inclusive community police service model and laid the foundations for stronger responses to mental health, addiction, and other domestic and social challenges.”

Earlier this year, Christian said drug use in Kamloops was leading to “people dying at an alarming rate” and said the city could not “police its way out” of the social problems it faced.

In March, Lecky asked for dozens of extra staff to address a higher-than-average crime rate in Kamloops, particularly theft and assault.

Lecky, quoted in the City of Kamloops news release, said he and colleagues had worked hard “to bring to the forefront the challenges and changes presented in policing and the legal system.”

He continued: “Although I am looking forward to this new opportunity to serve the communities of the Northwest Territories, I would be remiss not to acknowledge that it was my time in Kamloops that prepared me for such a role.”

Kamloops This Week reported Lecky joined the RCMP in 1996 and has served in Kelowna, on Vancouver Island, in Terrace and in Prince George, where he helped to run northern BC’s Indigenous policing program.