The City of Port Alberni has hired Staff Sgt. Brian Hunter from Oceanside as the new RCMP detachment commander.
Hunter brings a wealth of experience to the position, having served for more than 22 years with the RCMP. He is currently the detachment commander at the Oceanside detachment in Parksville, and will be promoted to the rank of inspector as he assumes his new command in Port Alberni.
Hunter replaces Insp. Mac Richards, who was posted to Charlottetown, PEI as a superintendent last month after three and a half years at the helm in Port Alberni. Richards announced his departure for the Maritimes at a city council meeting last October.
Hunter began his career in Shawnigan Lake in 1994 and moved his way through the Northern B.C. communities of Telegraph Creek, Dease Lake, Salmon Arm and Williams Lake before settling in Oceanside as the detachment commander in 2008.
The announcement of Hunter’s new position followed an interview process with the RCMP, City of Port Alberni, the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District and local First Nations governments.
“I am super excited, along with my wife, to move to the community and engage and get to know the community,” Hunter said.
Hunter said he is expecting to have his house for sale in Parksville in the next couple of weeks and will move to Port Alberni once it sells. He said it’s hard to give a concrete timeline of when exactly he will assume his post in the Valley but believes it will be about two or three months from now.
He is looking forward to joining the community as both a resident and as the new commander.
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