REGINA - Regina Deputy Police Chief Dean Rae is wrapping up a 34 year career with Regina Police Service as of next week.
Rae’s retirement was marked at the Regina Board of Police Commissioners meeting on Tuesday, with the board reading a letter of thanks to Rae for his years of service.
“It was just time,” said Rae to reporters. “I’ve always said all along, that I was going to retire sometime this coming year. Quite frankly, there was an opportunity, and I decided to explore the opportunity and turned out to be successful in it. So that was one of the reasons that led to my decision to retire.”
Rae, who served for several months in 2023 as Acting Police Chief while the search was on to replace Police Chief Evan Bray, seemed content with his decision to join Bray in the ranks of retired members of the Regina police force.
“I can tell you, that I am very comfortable with my decision. We have a great organization here, our organization is well respected in our community. We have a tremendous senior management team to lead the organization forward, so it is a good time to move forward in my own personal decisions here.”
In his 34 years with the police service, Rae told the reporters scrum that he has seen a lot of changes, including notably just in terms of the way he does his job.
“We used to write our calls for service down on a piece of paper, write down where we were dispatched to, and we had to hand those in every night. Very shortly after that, we went to a small commuter computer screen that was 4 inches square, and had some technology into it, to the point where we had the laptops where we had the full array of information available to our fingertips.”
There have also been big changes in the nature of crime in the city, he said.
“I can tell you it was many, many years before we encountered any firearms on our streets. For the most part, it was all knives, and that’s type of sort of the old fisticuff violence we used to see. Today, the violence in our community has changed dramatically where we see firearms on a daily basis. The nature of drugs in our community have changed dramatically and have gone through a number of different renditions of that over the years. So there’s been all kinds of change.”
The training is also much more intense for police recruits nowadays.
“I would say in our careers, or in our policing career, we always talk about as newcomers coming to the building the old guys say ‘hey I sure wouldn’t want to start my career now,’ but I always go back to the whole training, the education that members receive now is second to none. Our members are better trained, better equipped. The organization is better to support them in what happens in our community. Years ago when I started, we didn’t have the same thing. We didn’t have the same dynamics that we are seeing on the streets as well, but our members are equipped and trained to deal with all of that now. I think the organization has done a tremendous job, making sure that those members are there to support the community, are there to work with the community, and the organization helps the community move forward with all the challenges.
“It’s been a tremendous career. I have no regrets, I have been in so many different areas that have allowed me to excel, allowed me to make decisions, allowed me to grow as a person, and I thank the organization for that.”
His last official day is next Thursday, Feb. 1, and he plans a vacation before moving on to his next chapter.
