THUNDER BAY — The first city police chief hired from outside the ranks in 28 years has started the process of taking on the role.
Darcy Fleury, who was announced last month as the next chief of the Thunder Bay Police Service, had his first day inside the Balmoral Street headquarters on Monday.
Fleury is the first external chief hire for the police force since 1995, after predecessors Sylvie Hauth, J.P. Levesque, Bob Herman, and Leo Toneguzzi were all promoted from within the ranks.
"I got a chance to come in [Monday] morning first thing, take a tour around, and get a chance to meet a lot of the young people here in the building, and get to know their programs and understand some of the language they use here in the department. It's quite different than what I'm used to," he said. "It was nice to get that first feel and a bit of an understanding of how things operate."
"We have meetings set up pretty much all week just to do that, to get acquainted with everybody and understanding how things are operating and some of the things that we're working on and things we want to push forward."
Fleury, a citizen of the Red River Métis and member of the Manitoba Métis Federation, has more than 36 years of policing experience and has most recently served as chief superintendent with the RCMP Central Alberta District based in Edmonton.
Over the last few weeks, he has officially retired from the RCMP and started getting ready for the new job.
Just within the last week, the independent expert review panel commissioned by the Thunder Bay Police Services Board released their final report, which contained a series of recommendations to improve policing in the city.
"I was aware of some of the reports that were coming out, and of course some of the reports that I had read before [about] what was going on in the community," Fleury said. "Just reading up on those and preparing myself. We have these meetings coming up this week so that I can be ready to go and have some knowledge of what was going on."
Fleury, whose official title is chief-designate until he is sworn in next month, will work with acting chief Dan Taddeo during the leadership transition. Taddeo has been in the post since last June, following the suspensions of Hauth and deputy chief Ryan Hughes.
"Just a real good understanding of the community right now," he said of Taddeo. "We haven't really dug into some of the things that are going on in the department, but that's what this week is all about."
