Trevor M. Dusterhoft

Divisions Served: “E”

Medals and Honours: Long Service Medal with Bronze Clasp, Team Commander Accreditation, 5 FBI Certificates of Appreciation, 1 Secret Service Certificate of Appreciation, RCMP Officer’s Certificate of Appreciation

Pillar Location: Coming soon

Story: 

Regina is my hometown, so my influence to join came from an elementary school tour at Depot. Prior to joining the RCMP, I joined the Naval Reserves and the Canadian Armed Forces, which certainly came in handy for things like marching and shooting. I attended the University of Regina and the University of Alberta. In 1987 I graduated with a Bachelor of Education and joined the RCMP, which began a 30 year journey in the beautiful province of British Columbia.

My first posting was Vancouver HQ where I and most of my Troop were assigned to enter police records onto a computer system called PIRS. We were leaving the age of the typewriter behind. After 4 months, I was posted to Richmond, BC, which I loved because it was a flat island and the open sky reminded me of my Saskatchewan home. Richmond was known for berry farms, fishing communities and was starting to really grow as a City in the late 1980s. Many of my patrol calls were attending the aftermath of crimes. However; the calls I really remember are the ones that were occurring like house fires with people inside, stolen car chases, assaults in progress or providing first aid before the ambulance arrived.

One of my unforgotten memories was patrolling at night and witnessing an armed robbery in progress at a gas station. I observed the suspect exit the station with a gun in his hand. Moments later I saw the suspect bolt across a ditch into some large farming fields with lots of sharp blackberry bushes. The dog-man attended and after a several hours the dog gave us the suspects hiding spot where I arrested him. Tracking an armed suspect in the dark is very memorable. My fondest Richmond memory is meeting my wife Michele and having a red serge wedding with my office in attendance. Michele and I raised two children, Aleisha and Brandon, and then spent many of our hours coaching football baseball and hockey.

Following my 8 years in Richmond, I went on to work in financial crimes. In 1997 I remember working a theft of a  telecommunications project, where we became the first team in Commercial Crime to network our computers together for the investigation. I think this was a game changer for managing complex investigations. I worked on numerous white collar crimes and promoted to Corporal. In 2005 I was assigned as the File Coordinator for the Integrated Gang Task Force. In 2006 I promoted to Sergeant and was the Team Leader for the newly created Counterfeit Enforcement team. From 2007 to 2009 I was the Team Leader for a cross border task force dubbed Project Emptor. Working International Crimes with the FBI and recovering money for elderly victims provided me extreme job satisfaction. In 2009 I was promoted to S/Sgt and was assigned to lead sensitive political investigations in B.C. In 2013 I worked with the Integrated Proceeds of Crime Team on another international project. I was also fortunate to partner with foreign agencies on a cross border bio-diesel fraud that was reported in the RCMP Gazette. I was commissioned in 2016 and in 2017 retired as an Inspector in the Office of Investigative Standards and Practices.