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North Vancouver RCMP chief steps up to promotion with Lower Mainland district

Officer who led North Vancouver RCMP as police chief for the past two years has been promoted to Chief Superintendent for the RCMP’s Lower Mainland District.
Jane Seyd
Jane Seyd
ghalib bhayani
North Vancouver RCMP Supt. Ghalib Bhayani has been promoted to Chief Superintendent for the RCMP's Lower Mainland district.North Shore News photo

The officer who led the North Vancouver RCMP detachment as police chief for the past two years has been promoted to Chief Superintendent for the RCMP’s Lower Mainland District.

Chief Supt. Ghalib Bhayani, whose last day as Officer in Charge of the North Vancouver detachment was May 31, will take on the role of assistant district commander and operations officer, which includes oversight of 28 communities and 14 detachments in the Lower Mainland.

“I would like to thank the North Vancouver community for your support, letters of encouragement, personal interactions, and really for helping me as I developed myself as your public safety champion,” said Bhayani. “This has been an exceptional community to work with and for.”

Bhayani came to North Vancouver in July 2019 after former detachment commander Chris Kennedy stepped down.

Bhayani brings a wide-ranging perspective to his new role in overseeing the Lower Mainland RCMP.

An Ismaili Muslim, Bhayani and his family fled Uganda to escape persecution from the Idi Amin dictatorship in the early '70s, then spent his youth in Toronto before his family moved to Surrey.

In his police career, Bhayani spent 10 years with the Delta Police Department and also worked with the Richmond RCMP's airport unit, the Combined Forces Special Enforcement unit working in surveillance, as a watch commander in Burnaby and inspector in charge of community services in Surrey.

In 2016, he wanted to put his master's degree in international diplomacy to work and took a posting as the first-ever Canadian adviser to Iraq's minister in charge of policing.

While in North Vancouver, Bhayani spoke of the need for statistics and data to drive policing decisions rather than gut feelings. He also established a Diversity, Inclusion and Equity Advisory Committee with the goal of guiding the detachment in delivering bias-free policing services.

In North Vancouver, Inspector Andy LeClair will act as Officer in Charge of the detachment until a permanent replacement is named.