Kash Heed (born November 1955) is a

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politician and former police officer. Since 2022, Heed has been a member of Richmond City Council. He previously served as a Member of the

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia () is the deliberative assembly of the Legislature of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The other component of the Legislature is the lieutenant governor of British Columbi ...

, representing the riding of Vancouver-Fraserview from 2009 to 2013. A member of the BC Liberal Party, from 2009 to 2010 he was the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General in the Campbell ministry. Before entering politics, he served on the

Vancouver Police Department The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) () is the police force in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several police departments within the Greater Vancouver, Metro Vancouver Area and is the second largest police force in the provinc ...

(VPD), reaching the rank of superintendent. He then served as chief constable of the West Vancouver Police Department from 2007 to 2009, becoming the first Indo-Canadian

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in Canada.

Policing

A resident of

Richmond, British Columbia Richmond is a city in the coastal Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Mainly a suburban city, it occupies almost the entirety of Lulu Island (excluding Queensborough, New Westminster, Queensborough), between the two estuarine dis ...

since 1965, Heed graduated from the B.C.

Police Academy A police academy, also known as a law enforcement training center, police college, or police university, is a training school for police cadets, designed to prepare them for the law enforcement agency they will be joining upon graduation, or to o ...

in 1979 and began his career as an officer with the VPD. As an inspector he was commander of District 3, which corresponds to the southeast quadrant of

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

; he was in charge of the south part of Vancouver after becoming superintendent. Other roles in his career with the VPD have included heading the drug squad and Indo-Canadian gang task force, as well as implementing the department's COMPSTAT

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system. In June 2007 he lost out to Deputy Chief Jim Chu for the position of Chief Constable of the VPD, but days later was appointed to that title in

West Vancouver West Vancouver is a district municipality in the province of British Columbia, Canada. A member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District, West Vancouver is situated on the north shore of Burrard Inlet to the northwest of the city ...

. He led the West Vancouver Police Department for 19 months before resigning on February 23, 2009. During his time as Chief Constable, Heed advocated the creation of a regional police force to fight gang crime. He is a published author who also teaches criminology and criminal justice at two B.C. colleges.

Provincial politics

On April 8, 2009, Heed announced he would run for the BC Liberal Party in the riding of Vancouver-Fraserview in that year's provincial election; he was called a

star candidate A star candidate () is high-profile individual who is entering or re-entering elected politics. In Canada and the United Kingdom, the recruitment of a star candidate often includes a guaranteed nomination in a winnable seat. Star candidates com ...

for the party. During his campaign, Heed used photos of himself wearing a police uniform in his campaign materials; his main opponent, Gabriel Yiu of the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

(NDP), suggested that was improper. Heed defeated Yiu by 748 votes to become the riding's

member of the Legislative Assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several nation ...

, and was appointed to the B.C. cabinet as Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General on June 10, 2009. His responsibilities under this portfolio included crime prevention, law enforcement, victim services, road safety and emergency preparedness. Heed resigned his ministerial post on April 9, 2010 in response to an unspecified

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

investigation regarding violations of the Elections Act involving his campaign office, becoming the third consecutive solicitor-general to step down in a 25-month period. The investigation revealed that his campaign team distributed unregistered brochures targeting the NDP, but special prosecutor Terry Robertson exonerated Heed of involvement, and he returned to cabinet on May 4, 2010. Less than 24 hours later, the special prosecutor himself resigned when it was discovered that the law firm he came from had made financial contributions to the election campaign of Heed's party, the Liberals. Heed once again stepped down pending a more detailed probe into the case. The distribution of the unregistered brochures brought Heed's campaign above the spending limit; he admitted to exceeding the limit by $5,579, but denied knowing of it at the time. The court revised the overspent amount to $4,000, and Heed was fined $8,000 (twice the overspend), but was allowed to keep his seat in the legislature and cleared of criminal wrongdoing. He did not run for re-election in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Radio broadcasting

In 2016, Heed started as the morning talk show host for 107.7 Pulse FM, a new English-language radio station based in

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

; he left the station in February 2017. Heed was critical of the handling of the escape of Robbie Alkhalil from the North Fraser Pretrial Centre, saying on 26 July 2022: "I have never in my 32 years in policing, and my time since policing, seen such an inept investigation on a suspected murderer that has escaped from one of our secure institutions. I visited that institution, you just have to look at the incredible surveillance system that they have there, the quality of that system, and how could you not have images of individuals that assisted in that escape not available to the public. But you have photos taken off the internet, that are not even them, that you publish as accomplices to the escape? For you to get into the facility or anywhere near where some of the prisoners would be, especially some of these high risk prisoners, you will have gone through several surveillance systems or you ought to have gone through several surveillance systems, which would have captured your image. Alkhalil obviously had a well-planned escape plan, and who knows where he is right now, whether he is sitting low and waiting for things to calm down, or he's already made his way to another country. Will we ever know? I'm not sure. But do we have confidence that the investigation will lead us or give us the answers? No, I don't have the confidence in it."

Municipal politics

Heed announced in August 2022 that he was standing for a seat on the Richmond City Council in that year's municipal elections. His bid was supported by councillor Derek Dang, and the two formed a joint slate as Richmond Rise; Heed also mulled standing for mayor in the future. On October 15, 2022, Heed was elected to council, taking the last of eight seats. In February 2024, Heed put forth a motion alongside Councillor Laura Gillanders to consider implementing a supervised consumption site at

Richmond Hospital Richmond Hospital (RH) is a general hospital in Richmond, British Columbia, Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. The Vancouver Coastal Health Authority (VCH) is responsible for Richmond Health Services and Richmond Hospital. History Richmond Hospi ...

. The proposal drew backlash from the community, with over 16,000 signing a petition against the construction of a consumption site. The motion passed by a margin of 7–2; however, Mayor Malcolm Brodie said that the city would not seek approval for a site.

References

West Vancouver's new police chief 'an innovator'
' CBC.ca News'', Wednesday, June 27, 2007 (retrieved June 1, 2018)

North Shore Outlook, February 23, 2009 (retrieved February 23, 2009)

''The Vancouver Sun'' April 9, 2010 (retrieved April 9, 2010)
B.C. Solicitor General Kash Heed resigns
''Globe & Mail'', August 23, 2012 (retrieved Feb 19, 2013)

External links