It’s been a little more than two weeks on the job for Revelstoke’s new RCMP sergeant but so far Kim Hall is fitting in.
“Absolutely wonderful,” she said when asked about her time so far, specifically pointing out last week’s community food drive as a highlight.
“Everybody told me how great the people in Revelstoke are and how great a community it is and they sure showed their stuff the last couple of nights.”
Sgt. Hall joined the Revelstoke RCMP as the new sergeant earlier this month, replacing Sgt. Art Kleinsmith, who retired earlier this year.
She came here from the Sea-to-Sky (Whistler-Pemberton area) detachment, where she was seconded to the Stl’atl’imx nation tribal police. “It was a great place to work, wonderful people to work with. I had a great time there,” she said.
Originally from Manitoba, Sgt. Hall started with the RCMP 21 years ago in Terrace, B.C. After five years there she transferred to Chilliwack, followed by stints in Gibsons, Sechelt, Midway and the Sea-to-Sky detachment.
“I can’t believe it,” she said. “I walked into my first detachment in Terrace and I remember talking with a constable there. I asked, ‘So, how many years do you got?’ He said 10. It was ‘Wow! You must know it all.’
“When you’re enjoying what you do it goes fast.”
A mother of three, Hall comes to Revelstoke having spent most of her career as a general duty officer, with a background in the general investigation section. In the early-90s she was a founding member of the British Columbia Youth Police Network, a group that works to reduce youth crime. “Youth are a big thing for me,” she said.
Her role in Revelstoke will be as operations NCO, keeping operations running smoothly in the office, supervising files and overseeing the work of four officers. “Any files that are really serious in nature they would come to me for a review,” she said.
She believes that officers should be members of the community, which is part of the reason she enjoyed taking part in the food drive last week. As well, she likes to see officers go into schools and speak to kids.