It’s come full circle for Staff Sergeant Travis De Coene as he returns to the Fraser Valley.
De Coene will take the helm of the Hope RCMP detachment, succeeding Staff Sergeant Karol Rehdner, who retired last year.
De Coene grew up in Yarrow, coming back to the Fraser Valley recently in 2018. Like plenty of movie lovers, he was first introduced to Hope by way of “First Blood.” He currently resides in Popkum, but his career has taken him all over from Fort McNeill to Alert Bay, Bella Bella, Terrace and Langley before coming to the Fraser Valley.
Having joined the RCMP in 2001, De Coene knew he wanted to join the police at a very young age.
“I remember sitting at elementary school, I want to say it was probably grade three or four, we had the police come in and they used to do the drug talks,” he said. “I went home that day and said ‘I’m going to be a cop.'”
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De Coene’s name has appeared in the news before. Approximately 10 years ago, back when he was a corporal, De Coene was one of nine officers allegedly involved in a civil suit alleging assault and discrimination in the arrest of Shane Parker, a then-24-year-old gay man from Terrace.
De Coene told The Standard he was not part of Parker’s arrest but he was on the scene when trying to get Parker out of the police vehicle. He said Crown Counsel concluded Parker was the one who dictated the level of force and that De Coene acted within the regulations of his duties.
De Coene said he and other officers spent an hour trying to get Parker out of the vehicle. He added he was cooperative during investigations following the arrest.
“The use of force was appropriate and ultimately none of my members were injured, I wasn’t injured, [Mr. Parker’s injuries were] superficial for the most part, and that was that,” he said.
He said he’s enjoyed getting to know Hope and the surrounding area.
“Overall, the community is great. There seems to be a lot of community involvement and a lot of different community services” De Coene said. “I’m actually surprised at how much there is going on in a town the size of Hope.”
He found that the community-oriented mindset echoed back to his work in detachments with several First Nations communities throughout his career.
“There was never really a sense of entitlement,” De Coene said of his experience in First Nations communities. “It was always very friendly; just a very forgiving, genuine kind of community, that’s how I found it.”
Acclimating to a community’s cultural nuances is key in effective policing, De Coene said.
“You need to take your cues from how people act and try to live within that community,” he said. “That’s been successful in all the communities I’ve lived in. It’s been enjoyable.”
While friendships and good memories form, De Coene said the bad days come with the territory when it comes to police work.
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“Generally, you’re fortunate for the fun things you get to do in a community, but nine times out of 10, you’re working with somebody that happens to be at a low point or a rough day or one of the worst parts of their lives,” he said. “More often than not, you’re not getting the best of that individual, so you have to try to deal with the situation as it is, look past that and recognize you’re dealing with somebody who’s having a bad day.”
De Coene said, in his mind, working together with various agencies and organizations in the detachment’s jurisdiction is the best way to serve the needs of any community.
“You’re certainly not going to be able to do it on your own, so you’ve got to keep those resources that are in a community and do what you can to push those,” he said. “It’s a lot easier to bear the weight with a bunch of people than it is trying to deal with it all by yourself.”
As De Coene gets to know the services and people of Hope, he hopes to work closely with restorative justice services, with the Restorative Justice Society in Chilliwack in particular. He also said he wants to be proactive in providing input in the ongoing efforts toward social housing.
As for what the rest of his first year in Hope brings, like any other year in police work, it’s anybody’s guess.
“[The RCMP] is a very reactive organization; I don’t think policing is every going to be removed from that,” he said. “We have to deal with the situation as it comes. We have no choice but to react, and I pride myself on that and I think the RCMP does a really good job of that. You’re reacting with the knowledge of what’s available in the community and what resources you have available to you, and that better serves your community.”
– With files from the Terrace Standard
