Coat ofArms

Tuesday 3 January 2012

Photos from 1992 when I moved to British Columbia(BC)

I first came to BC in 1980 with the Canadian Forces(CF) for my Combat Engineer 041 Trade Qualification 3 course in CFB Chilliwack, BC.  Taught by none other then my friend Jean-Yves Vermette now he's with the RCMP Bomb Data Centre in Ottawa as a Post Blast Consultant/Investigator.   I immediately fell in love with BC, the Mountains, climate, everything here was beautiful and I knew that someday I would return.  I also knew that it rained a lot, we jokingly said that it only rains Twice a Year in BC, six months at a time. In 1987 I returned as a Military Policeman(MP) for CHOGM(Commonwealth Head of Government Meeting) in Vancouver and I still loved BC.   So when my engagement to Lise my former Fiancee didn't work out in New Brunswick, after reading in the Canadian Almanach I found out that the Place or Location that rains the least in BC is White Rock BC  In May 1992, I moved to White Rock, Right across from the long Pier and the Big White Rock,  I had been working as the V-P Design and Marketing for Enseignes Luminex Signs in Tracadie, NB and I wanted to open a Sign company in White Rock,  I soon found out that almost everybody in White Rock is retired or on Old Age Security Pensions, so not the place for Modern signs.  I drove to Downtown Vancouver and Read in the Daily Province Newspaper an AD for a Security Company looking for "Mobile Patrol Operatives" which to me sounded a lot like "PMQ watch" in the Military Police.  So I went to this Company called "Intercon Security" met the Manager of PSD(Protective Services Division) and did all the written tests and I returned home to White Rock(WR).  When I got home there was a message on my answering machine, it was Intercon, they wanted to see me for a second interview and possibly hire me.  I got back in my car and drove back to Vancouver where I was hired by Pat Coady which was the PSD Manager and he introduced me to a guy that was in charge of their Investigation Section they call "Corporate Resources Group"(CRG)  this guy was apparently also an ex-MP  I talked to this guy and told him that I had recently got out of the Forces and was a MCpl MP and I had just taken the SIU(Special Investigation Unit) 7K Surveillance/Counter Surveillance course in Ottawa with SIU Ops and that I was willing to show him how I operated and they wouldn't have to pay me at first, I just wanted to show them that I was quite adept at surveillance. This guy kept ignoring me like the Plague, he wouldn't even talk to me.  That was weird, because MP's usually stick  together.  By then I discovered that my former MP sergeant from CFB Chatam, NB, I'll only use first names "Patty" had been posted to SIU Vancouver at Jericho, I went there and working with him was none other than my instructor on my 7K surveillance course "Gerry" so I told them  about this guy that was an Ex-MP and wouldn't talk to me.  A very cursory check was done and the next day I got a call stating that the guy had in fact been in the Forces but had been "Medicaled Out" of the Forces while at Recruit School, so he had never been an MP.  When I approached the guy with the new found facts, he was really surprised and he resigned from Intercon and dissapeared.  Intercon then asked me to take over CRG and look over some of the investigations he had done.  I did and took over the Investigation Section(CRG) and stayed with Intercon for about 15 years until I left and co-founded Avigilon Corporation with some friends  which was a former Client at Intercon   Alexander and  the Former V-P at Intercon Bruce.  When I first got here I met an old friend that was a Combat Engineer with me at 2 CER in CFB Petawawa and he had also re-mustered to Military Police and was now in Comox on the Island,  Jerry Grenier was also an Airborne Engineer plus a Combat Diver, I stayed with him for a few days and several years later he left the Forces and worked with me on Project SUNRAY and then he left Intercon and went to work security for the Military Criminal Tribunal in the Hague in The Netherlands.  When I went to visit him when I first arrived in BC it was my good Friend Gene Wade's birthday in Tracadie, NB and I knew that I was going to miss it that year, I had a cake made with Happy Birthday Gene and we had it at Jerry's place to celebrate Gene's Birthday, here are some photos from when I officially moved to BC.


 I guess they don't call the place White Rock for nothing

Jerry Grenier always busy







While working at Intercon Security, In 1994 I had the occasion to do Security for the famous Stanley Cup, sure enough June 14, 1994 after loosing to the NY Rangers 3-2 in Game 7  the Canucks Fans had a riot in Vancouver, mostly on Robson Street, 17 years later another riot in the exact same area and this time the City of Vancouver had acquired some of our Avigilon HD cameras for the 2010 Olympics, the University of Indianapolis LEVA(Law Enforcement Emergency Services Video Association) Forensic Video Analysis Lab processed a lot of video images and as of this month 52 charges against 20 people has been laid and a lot more to come.  My friend Grant Fredericks now with AVID spearheaded the Forensic Video Analysis with several investigators.

1 comment:

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