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New RCMP commander ready to take over Terrace detachment

Staff Sergeant Terry Gillespie is on his way to Terrace from Smithers
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Staff Sergeant Terry Gillespie is on his way from Smithers to be the next commander of the Terrace RCMP detachment. (Staff/Black Press Media)

It’s taken nearly 10 months, but the new commanding officer of the Terrace RCMP detachment is ready to start his assignment.Staff Sergeant Terry Gillispie was in the community during Riverboat Days to better familiarize himself with policing in the community.

“He will be starting in his role here in Terrace in the very near future pending a few details related to his transfer,” reports Constable Kelly Cates, the media relations officer at the detachment.

Gillespie is no stranger to the northwest as he is moving to Terrace from Smithers where he has been the detachment commander since Aug. 2019.

Prior to that he was a detachment commander on Haida Gwaii for three years and before that he was posted to Burns Lake.

One order of business that remains unfinished is Gillespie’s promotion from Staff Sergeant to Inspector which is the commissioned officer’s rank to be provided to the detachment commander.

Cates said there’s a plan to have that happen within the next nine months.

Gillespie was first named to the Terrace command position in Nov. 2021, replacing Inspector Jayson Lucash who transferred out in July 2021 to a post on the Lower Mainland.

Gillespie’s arrival is one of several ongoing shuffles with senior ranks of the RCMP in Terrace.

When Lucash left in July 2021, Staff Sergeant Mike Robinson, the detachment’s second-in-command, became acting commander, a position he will have held for just over a year now that Gillespie is on his way.

But after 11 years at the detachment, Robinson himself has a new assignment as a supervisor of smaller RCMP detachments in the region.

Robinson’s old job is now being filled by Staff Sergeant Mario Cloutier while Corporal Chris Connolly is now the acting operational support non-commissioned officer for the detachment which was Cloutier’s old position.

And leaving the detachment altogether is Corporal Josh Smith, who is in charge of the crime reduction unit commonly known as the street crew. He’s being prompted to sergeant and is on his way to Williams Lake.