Tom Forster remembers that the man in the VIP stand at the Montreal Olympics looked sketchy.
He was kind of slouched, drinking wine straight out of a bottle, and Forster – a freshly minted Mountie at the time – moved to challenge the man’s presence in the restricted area.
The introduction to British icon Mick Jagger is one Forster, a Cloverdale resident now eight years retired from the force, recalls fondly.
“He looked like he didn’t belong there,” the now 60-year-old said, laughing at the memory.
The experience is one of many that dotted Forster’s 32½-year policing career, which included stints in communities from Coquitlam – where he met his wife, Cori – to Vancouver, Surrey, Terrace and White Rock, before his retirement in 2008 at age 52.
He was on the team that surveilled Clifford Olson, the serial killer who confessed to murdering 11 children and young adults in the early 1980s; and he assisted in the case of “The Squamish Five” – a group of individuals who were “intent on blowing up stuff,” who were ultimately arrested on the Sea-to-Sky Highway in January, 1983.
Busting an in-progress robbery, identifying culprits who were behind a Canada-wide fraud and tracking the suspected “paper bag rapist” – described as one of B.C.’s most notorious sex offenders – to Cortes Island are among countless other highlights.
“Police in Seattle identified him. I was able to track this guy to Cortes Island. The next morning, we got a helicopter and a dog team and we swooped down on the last-known location.”
Next-of-kin notifications, about two a year, and including one Forster did while in Coquitlam after a truck driver was killed, were among the more heartwrenching parts of the job.
“The woman that answered the door has got a baby in her hand and two other little kids at her feet,” he recalled.
“That was tough.”
Promoted to corporal in 1991, Forster worked on commercial crime at E-Division – where files included the ‘Bingogate’ scandal and an odometer-rollback investigation – before being promoted to sergeant at the Burnaby detachment, where he was involved in planning for the millennium. Contrary to fears of what the rollover into the year 2000 would bring, “the world didn’t stop,” he said.
Forster’s arrival at the Terrace RCMP detachment also came by way of promotion, this time to staff sergeant. While it was “probably the toughest place I ever worked,” Forster’s willingness to take it on – 100 officers who were offered the position before him had turned it down – opened the door to his posting in White Rock.
He described the Pacific Avenue detachment, where he succeeded Staff Sgt. Jim Fisher in August 2003, as “the best place I ever worked.”
“Good budget, good members, lots of community support. Plus, you’re taking over from a detachment that’s already running really well.”
Highlights of his years leading policing in the seaside community included growing the detachment’s auxiliary officer program, starting the traffic-enforcement unit and Wings Over White Rock – the Canadian Snowbirds’ aerial performance over Semiahmoo Bay, in support of the Ch.I.L.D (Children with Intestinal and Liver Disorders) Foundation.
After White Rock, Forster continued with the Mounties for another 18 months before retiring; auditing detachments around the province and reviewing how the force handled the media aspect of the 2007 airport Taser-death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski.
Forster described policing as “a judgment business” – one that has fallen somewhat out of public favour in recent years, due in part to an apparent reluctance to explain why things were done a certain way, or to admit when a mistake has been made. He’s certain the challenges associated with finding witnesses and obtaining convictions are connected to the trend.
“There seems to be a lack of public support,” he said.
“The confidence the people have in police, if it becomes less, it affects everything.”
Despite how things have changed, Forster said he “can’t complain” about his years of service. They fueled his inquisitive nature, and developed his intuition, discretion and independence.
Retirement has provided the freedom to travel – he and Cori take about three cruises a year – spend time with his grandkids and pick and choose the work he wants to do, which has included insurance-related vehicle repatriations.
“Everyday’s an adventure,” he said.
But if he had the chance to start this chapter of his life over, he’s quick to admit he would do things differently. Advice he offers those eyeing retirement includes, take at least six months off before starting a new job, and take the activities that are expected to fill the years ahead for a test ride well in advance.
“Probably five years out, start getting involved in the things you think you want to do,” he said. “Test the waters, start being prepared for what you’re going to be doing, otherwise, it’s a shock.
“If I had to do it again, that’s what I’d do.”
