District Profile Deer Lake District

The RCMP began policing rural Newfoundland in 1950 taking over areas policed by the Newfoundland Rangers.

The Deer Lake District of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is broken down into four detachment areas. The detachment offices include Deer Lake, Rocky Harbour, Corner Brook, and Baie Verte. The District encompasses 64 communities with an approximate population of 32,300.

The District mandate is the same for all Detachments and falls in line with the RCMP guidelines. Safe Homes and Safe Communities. We have an active role in youth programs and organizations. We have large coastal areas and coastal watch is becoming a necessary project. We continue to focus on other criminal offences which occur within our boundaries. RCMP National Priorities of Youth, Organized Crime, Terrorism, Aboriginal Policing and Economic Crime are also a priority. We have good communication with other agencies including Park’s Canada, Conservation, Fisheries among a few. We have joint forces operations with The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary who police the city of Corner Brook

Our members have many liaisons with organizations and community groups within our respective detachments and are listed further in the individual Detachment profile.

The District is diversified into the following four Detachment zones:

Deer Lake Detachment

This detachment is the district headquarters. The Detachment was opened June 28th, 2000. The office is located at 41 Old Bonne Bay Road (route 430) in the town of deer lake. We can be contacted at 709-635-2173 by phone or by fax at 709-635-5109.

This district is located in the western part of Newfoundland, along the Humber River and beautiful coastal areas of our province. We are approximately 650 kilometres west from the major city of St. John’s and just 50 kilometres east from the city of Corner brook.

This office has several functions, the Operations Center, the Deer Lake Detachment, and Traffic Services West.

The Operations Center includes the District Commander (a Staff Sargent) and Operations NCO (a Sargent). We also have two District Assistance as a support team.

The Deer Lake Detachment members include two Team Leaders (corporals), and nine constables. One of the Constables is attached to the Joint forces Unit with the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary. Deer Lake Detachment covers an area which is east of Little Rapids, west to Sheffield Lake, north to Wiltondale, and south to The Gaff Topsails. We also cover Route 420 north to Great Harbour Deep.

Traffic Services West have five members and one team leader (two are located in Port aux Basque, one in Stephenville).

Deer Lake Detachment members have liaisons with several organizations and community groups. Members are on committee’s with all schools with members participating in school programs such as Crisis intervention and partnering with school projects such as SADD chapters. We participate in Crime prevention committee and the local Ground Search and Rescue volunteers. Most members participate with youth by coaching and providing other means of support where they can. Currently three members activly coach the senior boys hockey team in Deer Lake.

The detachment communities host a number of events throughout the year including the Strawberry Festival which is held in mid summer and runs to different communities over a period of several weeks. For the 2006 winter season Deer Lake is hosting the Newfoundland and Labrador Winter Games, which runs from February 25th to March 4th, 2006 and will be held in several of the surrounding communities.

Traffic Services mandate is the RSV 2010 program. Their mandate is to reduce traffic fatalities by 30% by focussing on road safety specifically related to fatalities including speeding, seatbelts, impaired driving, and intersections. They liaison with many groups which promote traffic safety including chapters of MADD and SADD. They have an active media campaign which provides a daily road report via three radio stations within our district.

Communities

There are twelve larger communities within Deer Lake Detachment boundaries. These communities include beaches, Cormack, Deer Lake, Hampden, Howley, Jackson’s Arm, Pasadena, Pollards Point, Pynn’s Brook, Sop’s Arm, St. Judes, and all points in between.

Corner Brook Detachment

The Corner Brook Detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police reports to the District Headquarters in Deer Lake. It has policing responsibilities for a primarily rural population in the outlying areas of the City of Corner Brook, one of three cities in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Detachment is located on 78 Mount Bernard Avenue, Corner Brook, Newfoundland, A2H 5E9. We can be contacted at 709-637-4433 by phone or by fax at 709-637-4432. We are in the former Sub-Division building which also houses Area Management Team West, a Drug Section, Major Crimes Unit, Federal Enforcement Section, Forensic Identification Section, and Property Management.

Geographically the Detachment covers- North, Hughes Brook to Cox’s Cove and South, Mt. Moriah to Lark Harbour of Bay of Islands, Massey Drive, West to George’s Lake and East to Boom Siding. The detachment covers approximately 16 town’s of Cox’s Cove, Gilliams, Goose Arm, Hughes Brook, Humber Arm South, Humber Village, Irishtown-Summerside, Lark Harbour, Little Rapids, Massey Drive, McIver’s, meadows, Mount Moriah, South Brook- Hall’s Bay, Steady Brook, and York Harbour.

Hub of distribution, service, retail, medical services for western and northern region/ southern Labrador; 3 post-secondary institutions including Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, College of the North Atlantic, and Academy Canada sees an influx of students throughout the region. Housing starts are at an all-time high, especially with the multi-million dollar expansion at Humber Valley Resort drawing hundreds of International visitors to our province. Forestry , Pulp and paper mill, Tourism, and a world class ski hill, Marble Mountain, are all major contributors to the local economy. The total population approximately 13,000 policing of a vast area separated by a large bay. The main industry consisting of logging and fishing.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police took over policing of the city of Corner Brook from the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary on August 1 1950. The original RCMP Detachment in Corner Brook consisted of 10 members with Sgt. Michael Keogh in charge. Sgt. Keogh had been the NCO in charge of the RNC at the time of the takeover and he was absorbed by the RCMP.
The original Detachment was housed at 8 West Street and that building remained the Detachment Headquarters until 1968 when new quarters became available in the Sir Richard Squires Building. The current building at 78 Mount Bernard Avenue was opened on June 7 1969.

S/Sgt. C.L. Thomas was in charge at that time, when the Detachment consisted of 39 uniform personnel, and included four shifts of 6 men, a 5 man traffic section, 7 members on plain clothes duties and 3 senior NCO ’s. By the 1980's the population exceeded 24,000 and the establishment increased to 47 personnel. On June 11 1986 the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary took over the policing of the City of Corner Brook. The complement of members for the RCMP dropped significantly to the current establishment of eight members, seven Constables with a Sergeant in charge, as well as one Detachment Assistant.

Over the years numerous citizens of Corner Brook and surrounding areas assisted the detachment members in the capacity of Auxiliary Constables, with their numbers ranging from 20 in 1965 to 10 in 1985, with 5 current auxiliary members. These volunteers patrol with Regular Members and provide countless hours of assistance to the police and communities.

Members of the Corner Brook RCMP are actively involved in a school liaison program, DARE training by one member, work closely with the Bay of Islands Ground Search and Rescue Team, and have a Coastal Watch and Seniors Liaison Program. Being at the hub of the West Coast and where regional medical, court, and corrections facilities, members of the Corner Brook Detachment spend a large percentage of their time assisting other units in the region, especially with the escort of prisoners.

Members of the unit work closely and collaboratively with our policing partners at the RNC, sharing resources throughout the year and at special events such as Christmas checkpoints. A Joint Forces Operation involving members of both the RNC and the RCMP has seen countless successes in street level enforcement particularly with Break and enters and street level trafficking.

Members of the Detachment meet with elected representatives in all communities serviced as well as a small group of First Nations people in Benoits Cove on a regular basis to proactively solve crime and help ensure safe homes and safe communities.

One member provides training on DARE to area schools, and efforts are underway to seek training to expand the program to include more schools. One Member is actively liaising with Seniors groups to work jointly on any issues affecting them especially elder abuse, and frauds and scams. Members actively solicit input from Youth by bringing representatives from the three schools in the Detachment area to youth forums in Deer Lake and St.John’s.

Rocky Harbour Detachment

Rocky Harbour Dteachment is located 67 kms north of Deer Lake on Route 430 in the heart of Gros Morne National Park. It lies approximately one hundred and twenty kilometers north of Corner Brook, in the town of Rocky Harbour.

The contact address for the detachment is Box 70 7 Harbourview Drive, Rocky harbour, Newfoundland. We can be contacted by phone 709-458-2222 or by fax 709-458-2007.

The staffing numbers are one team leader, 5 Constables and 1 District Assistant.

The Community has access to Bonne Bay Cottage Hospital situated at Norris Point and a full-time dentist is located in Norris Point as well. All denomination churches can be found in our area. We have access to Deer Lake Airport which is approximately 70 kms, away. We have access to full time hairdressers, dry cleaners, pharmacy, taxi service garages, banking (Bank of Montreal) and schools. There is a number of small grocery stores available but most grocery shopping is done in Deer Lake and Corner Brook.

The detachment is located in the community of Rocky Hr however our patrol area, geographically starts at Trout River in the south west of our Detachment area and go to Portland Creek at the extreme north. We patrol 7 communities along Route 431 taking in Trout River, Woody Point, Glenburnie, Shoal Brook, Birchy Head, Winterhouse Brook and Wiltondale. We patrol along Route 430, taking in all areas of Gros Morne National Park including the Campgrounds of Berry Hill, Green Point, Shallow Bay and Trout River. Along Route 430, we cover 8 communities: Norris Point, Rocky Hr, Sally's Cove, St.Pauls, Cow Head, Three Mile Rock, Parsons Pond, and Portland Creek.

The detachment communities host a number of events which included the Bonne Bay Regatta at Woody Point, the Summer Festival at Norris Point, the Lobster Festival at Cow Head and the end of the summer Softball tournament at both St.Paul's and Parsons Pond. We also have the Gros Morne Dinner Theatre in Cow Head the Western Brook Boat Tours which goes into the Western Brook Gorge, the EmmCat which does tours from Norris Point to Woody Point alond with the Trout River Boat Tours and also a boat tour of St. Paul's Inlet.

Each Year our members participate in most of these events whether working or with their families. We also have the Gros Morne Mountain hike which is a 8 hour hike from Route 430 to the top of Gros Morne Mountain. Nature Trails are everywhere including the 10 Kms walk to Baker's Brook Falls.

This Detachmant takes part in and has a member actually sitting on the Mental Health Awareness Committee, the Youth Advisory committee, the Seniors/elders Committee, Occupational Heath and Safety Committee, Crime Stoppers, Ground Search and Rescue Team, the Snowmobile Club and during certain times of the year members are asked to attend Community Council meetings in our various Communities. Our Detachment also has access to Victim Services which is situated in Port Saunders.

We are involved with the School Liason Program with one member assigned to each of the schools in our area.

All of the communities we police are fishing communities, compounded by the ever growing industry of tourism. During the summer months our area will see as many as 500,000 tourist travel in or through our policing area. Each of our communities has an abunance of B&B, motels, cabins, hotels, restraunts, seafood stores and friendly faces.

For the nature lover, Gros Morne National Park offers an incomparable blend of mountains, lakes, forest, seacoast, and natural history. Rocky Harbour is a veritable paradise for camping wilderness, hiking and sightseeing. In winter there are groomed and tracked trails for skiing with some trails lit for night time skiing. There are kilometers of skidoo trails and you can enjoy the pleasure of both fresh water fishing and salt water fishing.

Force housing is readily available in our detachment area. Although Rocky Harbour is a scenic area which attracts a substanial amount of tourist it remains a limited duration posting.

Baie Verte Detachment

Baie Verte Detachment is centrally located in the town of Baie Verte approximately 65km north of the Trans Canada Highway on route 410. The detachment was established in 1965.

The detachment address is #28-#30 Highway 410, P.O. Box 69, Baie Verte, NL A0K 1B0 CANADA. We can be contacted at 709-532-4221 or by fax 709-532-4083.

The detachment is comprised of one(1) corporal, four (4) constables, one (1) full time detachment assistant and three (3) auxiliary constables. The detachment area encompasses a very large geographic area serving 23 communities and a cottage area that has winterized cottages occupied year round. The detachment covers approximately 397 km of highway. The town of Baie Verte has approximately 1300 residents. The detachment area provides policing services to about 6,600 residents.

Members at the Baie Verte detachment are actively involved in the local Youth Justice Committee (alternative measures), the DARE / PARTY program, coaching hockey, youth Navy League cadet program, the local Knights of Columbus council as well as the local Dorset Snowmobile association which boasts some of the best groomed snowmobile trails on the island of Newfoundland.

The beautiful area has most of the modern amenities with banking services, restaurants, drug stores, grocery stores, hotel / inn, outdoor supervised swimming pool, skateboard park, hockey stadiums, tennis courts, soccer pitch, hiking trails in almost all communities, salmon fishing, small / big game hunting and seasonal recreational programs for youth. A campus of The College of the North Atlantic is also situated in Baie Verte for post secondary education and technical upgrading. There is a full hospital facility called the Baie Verte regional health care center with three doctors and a dentist.