Hail to the new chief
MacCulloch sworn-in as new top cop
Niagara’s new top cop promised to build closer relationships with community partners and other police agencies as the Niagara Regional Police grapple with the expanding costs of serving and protecting.
During his swearing-in ceremony at Club Italia in Niagara Falls Friday, Chief Bryan MacCulloch said he is dedicated to maintaining policing standards while being financially responsible. Part of that pledge, he said, is to share resources with other services when possible.
“Today across Canada, police chiefs are challenged to manage both our human and financial resources more effectively and more creatively than ever before,” he said after being officially sworn-in as chief. “As your chief, I am committed to work collaboratively with (the police services board) community partners and all stakeholders to develop innovative solutions in order to address our financial responsibilities.
“The reality is that we owe it to the citizens of Niagara to deliver adequate and effective policing in the most cost-effective and transparent manner.”
MacCulloch, the NRP’s former deputy chief, was appointed to his current post on Sept 28 by the police services board. He replaces retired chief Jeff McGuire who was on hand for Friday’s ceremony. In his first public address since retiring, McGuire thanked MacCulloch for his “support and friendship” and said the NRP is in good hands.
The new chief has been a police officer for nearly 33 years and has severed in several capacities in the NRP including working the tactical, marine, fraud and homicide units.
During his speech Friday, MacCulloch said his time in the homicide unit was the “pinnacle of my investigative career,” and was enjoying the work when he was approached to apply to become the executive officer for then Deputy Chief Gary Beaulieu in 2005.
MacCulloch said he declined to apply for the position twice until Beaulieu insisted on meeting him. He accepted the posting, which set him on a career path to eventually become McGuire’s deputy and now chief of police.
Beaulieu was at Friday’s event and said the then Det. Sgt. MacCulloch impressed him with “superior analytic skills” as a detective.
He also found MacCulloch to be a “consummate police professional with the highest regard for ethics and integrity.”
For his part, MacCulloch said when he began his career he could “never have imagined I would be standing before you as chief of police.”
He said while the NRP enjoys a good relationship with the community it serves, police should remember they can “never stop earning the public’s trust.”
MacCulloch’s appointment makes him the ninth person to serve as chief of the NRP. glafleche@postmedia.com Twitter: @grantrants