After nearly two years without an inspector, the Terrace RCMP detachment now has an an officer of that rank officially in charge.
Terry Gillespie, who transferred to the city in early 2022 from his job as the staff sergeant in charge of the RCMP detachment in Smithers, received his inspector’s commission Sept. 27.
The rank of officers in charge of RCMP detachments is determined by the size of the detachment so while the Smithers detachment has a staff sergeant in charge, the Terrace detachment is large enough that the officer in charge is an inspector.
Gillespie’s move to Terrace came with the expectation from the RCMP of a promotion.
Gillespie’s first posting as an RCMP officer was to Squamish in 2006 followed by a move to Burns Lake, then to Haida Gwaii and, in 2019, to Smithers.
Prior to joining the RCMP, Gillespie was a commercial pilot in northern Ontario.
Gillespie arrived in Terrace to a detachment that has been struggling to reach its approved complement of officers, at times running with a vacancy rate as high as 25 per cent.
The officer shortage is not just in Terrace as many other detachments across the province and country have vacancies.
Still, the officer shortage has been at the top of the list of issues raised during several trips to Victoria by representatives of city council.
The detachment has, however, been focussing on efforts to remove repeat offenders from the community and Gillespie has reported they have had some successes.