SMEDLEY, S.A. ((Stephen (Steve) Andrew Smedley))
The Gallery
The Nameplates
Pillar Location: 10 - X
Troop Number and Year: TR. 6 1981/82
Troop Number and Year: TR. 6, 1982
The Stories
After serving with the Surrey Constabulary (England), the Bermuda Police Force and the Gloucester Police Force (Ontario) for a total of twelve years between April 1970 and April 1982, I joined the RCMP on June 8, 1982, and commenced my training at Depot Division on that date. As I had not received any formal training in Canada it was determined that I should undergo the full basic recruit programme. Thus, at thirty years of age, I was the oldest member of my troop.
Upon completion of my training in December 1982, my wife Peggy and I travelled from Ottawa to Wainwright, Alberta, to begin what would be an almost thirty-year career with the RCMP.
My Recruit Field Training (RFT) went smoothly enough. My trainer, Fred VanderPloeg, even being so kind as to say that he was learning a lot from me! Sgt Jerry Jantz recommended that, after two months of the six-month programme, my RFT should be concluded. It took the K Division Training Branch another four months to agree, by which time my formal RFT was over anyway.
We remained in Wainwright for over six years, during which time we celebrated the arrivals of our two daughters: Vivian and Stephanie. Definitely the highlights of that posting.
In the summer of 1989 we moved to Edmonton, where I assumed my duties at Edmonton International Airport Detachment. The RCMP was in the process of converting to Regular Members the Special Constables who had hitherto policed the facility, and augmenting the detachment complement to over fifty members, certainly a robust establishment for such a comparatively quiet aerodrome.
In October 1989 I was honoured to have been selected to join the one-hundred-member RCMP contingent to join the United Nations peacekeeping force in Namibia, Canada’s first such contribution to UN civilian policing operations. Despite some tension in some areas, the six-month mission concluded successfully, and we all returned home to Canada in the spring of 1990.
In October 1991, I was selected for full-time French language training in Edmonton, which I completed in April 1992. In June that year, we moved to Fort McMurray where, until 1996, I would perform municipal and Highway Patrol duties.
In February 1995, I was again selected for UN peacekeeping service, this time in strife-ridden Haiti. Another very tense environment in and around Port-au-Prince but my tour of duty ended uneventfully in September that year.
In April 1996, I was promoted to corporal and transferred to Depot Division as a driving instructor. By 1998, I was cross-training as a drill instructor and in 1999 assumed full-time duties in the drill hall. It was there that, in May 1999, I famously slipped and fell while teaching a drill class. I severely injured my right leg and took several months to resume my place on parade. However, it became apparent after three corrective surgeries that I had lost the dynamic function of my leg and could no longer continue in the Drill Section. In the fall of 2001, I was transferred to the Public Relations unit, which was soon to be renamed Communications and Events Management Services. In 2002, I was promoted to sergeant.
In April 2004, at the recommendation of my line officer, Inspector Donna Brownlee, I assumed full-time duties as the RCMP project manager for the Mounted Police Heritage Centre project. My duties were to liaise, on behalf of the RCMP, with all parties involved in the development, design, and construction of the new museum. Evidently all went well, and the facility was opened on May 23, 2007.
During the course of the Heritage Centre project, in 2005, the Government of Canada committed $150 million to the RCMP to upgrade the facilities and infrastructure at Depot Division. A new unit was created, Depot Major Capital Projects, and Mr. Kevin Serle was brought in from Winnipeg to direct the programme. As I was already engaged in the development of the Heritage Centre, I was assigned to join Kevin’s team as the Projects Coordinator. My mandate was to work alongside the Depot Division management team to ensure minimal disruption of the Cadet Training Programme during construction activities.
So successful was our small team (Kevin Serle, Allan Currie, Brian Ludwar, Linda Topping and myself) that we achieved wide recognition and were eventually transferred – on paper anyway – to the RCMP National Headquarters. We became the National Project Delivery Office and our projects now included RCMP facilities nationwide.
After a 41 year career in policing I retired on June 8, 2011 – exactly twenty-nine years after I joined the RCMP.
Divisions Served: K, Depot, HQ
Medals and Honours: "Canadian Peacekeeping Service Medal, United Nations Peace Medal (UNTAG), United Nations Peace Medal (UNMIH), Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal, RCMP Long Service Medal with Bronze Clasp "
Regimental Number: 37867
Training Division: Depot
Troop Number and Year: TR. 6, 1982
Home Town: Salisbury, Wiltshire, England
Regimental Number: #37867
Troop Number and Year: TR. 6 1981/82