Terrace’s new officer in charge of the local RCMP detachment hails from Ottawa and his resume includes two stints guarding two Canadian Prime Ministers.
Inspector Dana Hart was a constable on the security team for former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, and is currently one of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s security travel officers.
By the time he comes to Terrace, he’ll have protected Harper in his travels for three years.
Hart had not yet begun the job when Harper came to Terrace in Aug. 2008 to meet Conservative members and Skeena-Bulkley Valley candidate Sharon Smith during a function on Lakelse Lake.
But he’s no stranger to the northwest and rural communities. The 22-year veteran of the police force began his career in Williams Lake, and has driven through Terrace a few times when working in Queen Charlotte City between 1994 to 1996.
He then worked on the security team for Chrétien, and moved to the Yukon after that.
Hart also spent some time on the east coast, working in Nova Scotia for three years and New Brunswick for a year before moving to Saskatchewan, then Yellowknife.
He’s used to working in rural communities, and this won’t be his first time running a detachment, having been in charge in the New Brunswick and Yukon detachments.
“Terrace is exactly the type of size of community that I’m looking forward to,” he said. “and I like being part of the community and that type of policing.”
Hart said he applied for the job posting here because the timing was right for his career. He turned down other locations that might have been a better career move for the Terrace lifestyle, he said.
“It was always the plan once my time on the Prime Minister’s detail was over was to return to detachment policing, and just to find the right spot, and Terrace is it,” he said.
He was officially contacted about the job May 12. Hart will be moving to town with his spouse, who is also in the RCMP, whenever his home sells in Ottawa. He’s hoping to be here by the middle of the summer.
Outgoing Inspector Eric Stubbs leaves Terrace at the end of May to head up the Prince George detachment.