Posts by Amanda Wong

(Ret.) Chief Bob Rich

Bob joined the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) in 1980, where he worked for 28 years.

During his time at the VPD, he held a number of positions, including:

• Detective
• Professional Standards Investigator
• Patrol sergeant in the Downtown Eastside
• Surveillance team Sergeant in the Downtown Eastside
• President of the Vancouver Police Union
• Head of Training and Recruiting
• Head of Human Resources
• Commander of District 2, which includes the Downtown Eastside
• Deputy Chief of Operations

In 2008, Bob left the VPD to become the Chief Constable of the Abbotsford Police Department (APD), a position he held until 2018. During his time at APD, much of his work focused on suppressing gang violence and supporting member’s mental health.

During his time in leadership positions, he has focused on change management to improve policing procedures, prevent crime, and increase safety for the community.

From 2021 to 2024, he worked as an associate counsel at the law firm of Wilson Butcher, helping to defend police officers from both criminal and disciplinary allegations. Currently, he is doing consulting work for police agencies and other organizations.

Bob also teaches workshops on police leadership and preventing mental health disorders caused by the work first responders do. In 2025, he launched a free website devoted to that topic which can be found at: bobrich.ca

He has been awarded the Officer of the Order of Merit for the Police Forces in Canada (O.O.M.).

Romolo F. Ranallo
Vancouver Police Department

Inspector Romolo Ranallo earned a Master of Science in Bioenergetics/Human Motor Performance from the University of British Columbia in 1999. He stands as one of Canada’s foremost authorities in police training, recognized for his unwavering dedication to elevating standards in use of force instruction and program innovation.

With 27 years of distinguished service in the Vancouver Police Department, Inspector Ranallo’s operational expertise was honed over years of front-line experience as an original member of the Beat Enforcement Team in Vancouver’s Downtown East side. Romolo has developed more than a dozen training programs from conception to implementation. He holds more than 20 course certifications spanning firearms, tactics, crisis intervention, and operational leadership. He has influenced policy and standards nationally as a member of the CACP Use of Force, Intervention, and De-escalation (UFID) Committee and provincially as a core member of several British Columbia Police Working Groups. Inspector Ranallo’s dedication extends beyond technical instruction; he has author numerous articles in police publications and distinguished as the only Canadian police officer to present at all four of the world’s largest law enforcement educator forums: ILEETA, IALEFI, NTOA, and IACP. His dynamic presentation style, commitment to evidence-based practice, and deep knowledge of emerging police training and related technologies have made his sessions a highlight at major conferences because he remains one of the few to tell it like it is.

Caroline Buckshot
Justice Institute of British Columbia

Rob Clarke
Justice Institute of British Columbia

Inspector (Ret) Rob Clarke joined the Vancouver Police Department in 1991 after receiving a diploma in Criminal Justice. He graduated from the police academy with honours, receiving the Chief Constable’s award for being the overall outstanding recruit for Class 50.

Rob spent his first 8 years in patrol in Districts 1, 3, and 4. He completed assignments as a beat officer, bike patrol member, and in the communications center. In 1999, Rob was selected to the Emergency Response Team, where he spent 7 years as a tactical operator.

In 2007, Rob was promoted to Sergeant. He worked as a supervisor in Districts 1 and 3, in the Vancouver Jail and with the Integrated Gang Task Force. Rob was also a member of the Public Order Unit as the tactical support section’s program coordinator. In 2010 he was chosen as the Department’s Firearms Training Supervisor at the Tactical Training Centre.

Rob was promoted to Staff Sergeant in 2013 and remained with the Training Section, where he continued to oversee many new training initiatives, including developing and teaching a course to Sergeants on how to respond effectively to a critical incident.

Rob was promoted to Inspector in 2015. After assisting with the creation of the Department’s strategic plan, he was assigned as a Duty Officer, where he worked for 4 years. During this time, he oversaw numerous major calls as a nationally accredited Critical Incident Commander and Instructor. Rob finished his career as a District Commander, overseeing operations in the downtown West End.

Rob has been working at the JIBC Police Academy since January 2022 as a firearms training instructor.

Brad Fawcett
Justice Institute of British Columbia

Ret. Sgt. Fawcett finished his career with the VPD as the Sgt. in charge of Research and Special Projects for the VPD Force Options Training Unit. He is a 31-year police veteran and has worked in patrol, jail, crowd control, and training. He was a staff member at the JIBC Police Academy for over seven years, where he instructed use of force, physical fitness, drill, and tactical courses involving high-risk vehicle stops, building containment and searching, active shooter, and mental preparedness.

Ret. Sgt. Fawcett is also a master hypnotist and clinical hypnotherapist working with athletes to improve their performances. He is a court-qual- ified use-of- force and non-firearms prohibited weapons expert. He has provided opinion evidence in Coroners’ Inquests, civil trials, criminal trials up to and including the Supreme Court of British Columbia, labour rela- tions hearings, public hearings, and a commission of inquiry. Ret. Sgt. Fawcett has been a faculty member of three Law of Policing Conferences (Canada) and The International Law Enforcement Forum in Northern Ireland. He was a faculty member at the 2019 International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference in Chicago, where he presented with the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), and has been a staff instructor at several international use of force conferences.

Ret. Sgt. Fawcett has an extensive resume related to use of force. He has developed manuals and courses from conception through provincial approval. He has been a sessional instructor at a post-secondary insti- tution where he has instructed Ethics for a Law Enforcement Environment, and Professional Communications and was the Canadian Director of the International Association of Ethics Trainers (IAET) for ten years. He is the founder of the annual JIBC/LETA International Use of Force Expert Conference and is the co-ordinator of this event.

Toby Hinton
Justice Institute of British Columbia

Ret. Sgt. Toby Hinton is the current Program Manager for the JIBC Police Academy Control Tactics Training Team. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology and Political Science from Simon Fraser University. He was a member of the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) for 30 years, with over 24 years dedicated to Beat policing in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver (17 as a Constable – 8 as a Beat Sergeant). For the final 5 years of his career, Toby worked as a Sergeant in the Force Options Training Unit (FOTU) of the VPD, where he specialized in Control Tactics training. While working in the FOTU, Ret. Sgt. Hinton helped develop an academic partnership for use of force research with Dr. Garth Davies (SFU School of Criminology) and utilized Subject Behaviour Officer Response Reports (SBOR) to inform and help drive use of force training for the VPD.

Ret. Sgt. Hinton is one of the founders of Police Judo (www.policejudo.ca), the VPD Police Judo Club (1997 to present), Simon Fraser University Police Judo Club (2010-2020), and currently instructs at the Odd Squad Police Judo (2019 to present). He has presented and delivered training on control tactics to police across Canada, the United States, Switzerland, China and Taiwan. He has also presented on use of force issues at the International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference (IACP) and the International Law Enforcement Education and Training Association (ILEETA) conferences.

Ret. Sgt. Hinton directed the Canadian Police Association (CPA) documentary “Understanding Police Use of Force” (2018) and has directed and helped produce numerous other educational documentaries through his work with the Burnaby-based charity Odd Squad Productions.

Ret. Sgt. Hinton has received multiple commendations at the agency level, the provincial level (4 Lieutenant Governor’s Awards), the national level (two Governor General’s Awards / Queen’s Diamond Jubilee) and the international level (International Association of Chiefs of Police).

Stephanie Dawson (Johnston), PhD
Dawson Analytics

Dr. Stephanie Dawson (Johnston) is the founder and principal researcher at Dawson Analytics, Inc. Dr. Dawson earned her Ph.D. in Criminology from Simon Fraser University. Dr. Dawson has engaged policing-related research as both an academic and independent research consultant. She has contributed to multiple reports and articles related to policing and public safety and has presented her work to academics, local government officials, and agency executives. Her earliest works focused on police perceptions of crowd disorder and crowd management techniques. Her work has since expanded to focus on various elements of police-citizen interactions, including trends in police use of different force options, police engagement in street checks, and police perceptions of crisis intervention and de-escalation. Currently, Dr. Dawson works with municipal police services to ensure their policies and practices are evidence-based and best practice-informed.

Sandra Garofalo 
Justice Institute of British Columbia

Sgt. Garofalo is the Lead In-Service Control Tactics Instructor with 4+ years experience with Metro Vancouver Transit Police in regular patrol. Sgt. Garofalo also brings a wealth of high-performance sport training and coaching experi- ence. Sgt. Garofalo is fluent in French, holds a Master’s Degree in Sport Management, and was a former National Judo Team member in France for 15 years, competing around the world. She is currently completing her Level 3 National Coaching and Certification Training.

Sgt. Garofalo is committed to contributing to a strong Control Tactics Team that is built on a combination of operational skill, legal knowledge, tactical experience and the best of sport science to ensure JIBC Police Academy recruits get the best training possible for the combined 23 weeks of Block 1 and Block 3 during their time at the JIBC Police Acade- my.

Sgt. Garofalo is the proud mother of Lowan and Ewan, and both teenag- ers are high-performance athletes competing at the national and interna- tional level in judo.

Jamie Proust
Justice Institute of British Columbia

Sergeant Jamie Proust is a 20-year member of the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) and currently leads the Patrol Tactics team at the JIBC Police Academy. With 10 years of tactical experience in VPD’s Emergency Response Team and CFSEU’s Uniformed Gang Enforcement Team, Jamie brings extensive operational and instructional expertise to recruit training. 

Ben Bolduc
Sault Ste. Marie Police Service

Inspector Bolduc has been a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Police Service since 1999. During his career he has served the community in various areas including; as a Constable on Patrol, a member of the Emergency Services Unit serving as a sniper and team leader, Sergeant of Training Services, Staff Sergeant on Patrol and the Professional Standards Bureau, and Inspector - Corporate Development and Emergency Management. He is currently the Inspector of Patrol Services.

Inspector Bolduc served as a Crisis Negotiator and is a certified instructor on Use of Force, Carbine Rifle, Armoured Vehicle Operations, Warrant Service and First Aid.

Inspector Bolduc spent numerous years coaching youth football in Sault Ste. Marie and is currently a board member with Women in Crisis.

Inspector Bolduc is a graduate of Sault College where he received a diploma in Law & Security and went on to receive a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice at Lake Superior State University. He is a recipient of the 20 year Police Exemplary Service Medal.

Inspector Bolduc is currently the president of C.A.P.E.