Last year, Peter Lepine took offence at a suggestion that he would likely oppose the establishment of a single police force on the North Shore.

The chief constable of the District of West Vancouver was reacting to such a claim by Rob Gordon, an SFU criminology prof who has worked as a police officer in London, Hong Kong, and Victoria in Australia.

Although Lepine told the Straight at the time that a unified force for his municipality, the City of North Vancouver, and the District of North Vancouver is “not necessary”, he also said in that interview that he would be “happy to lead the way” if politicians agreed to amalgamate police departments.

A former Mountie, Lepine said that his sense was that talk regarding regional policing in Metro Vancouver in general was “more of a discussion around RCMP-bashing”.

The Straight sought out Gordon following Lepine’s announcement on Monday (February 17) that he is stepping down in September this year, a move that the police chief maintained has no connection to recent publicized allegations of bullying, sexual harassment, and racism in his cop shop.

According to Gordon, Lepine’s departure creates a new opportunity to talk about police amalgamation on the North Shore.

“Lepine was or is no fan of the creation of a single police service on the North Shore,” Gordon said by phone on February 18.

West Vancouver has its own police department, now in its 102nd year, and its two North Vancouver neighbours have the RCMP on contract.