Red Deer RCMP Insp. Heidi Wild has been appointed the city’s acting top cop.
Wild steps into the police chief role while the RCMP recruits a replacement for Supt. Scott Tod, who worked his final day at the police detachment on Thursday.
Next month Tod will take on a new role as the City of Red Deer’s policing manager.
Wild, 54, said she is excited and a little nervous to take on the new responsibility in the acting role, which she hopes one day will become permanent.
Wild has worked in Red Deer since September 2014 and was commissioned as an inspector in 2015 as the Operations Support Officer.
In this role she looks after all the groups that provide support to operations such as the general investigation unit, internal investigators, dog section and traffic services.
“I’ve been here for a year and a half and I have been part of the stuff that we have started at the detachment and I would like see a lot of that through,” said Wild. “I think things are running really well right now. I think we have a lot of initiatives in place and good people in place. I am enjoying my time here. I like the community. I like the people. I would like the additional challenge of a little more responsibility.”
Wild became an officer in October 1987 after originally being turned down as an officer when she first applied at age 19.
“They basically said, ‘go away and grow up a bit,’ which is probably good,” she laughed. “Then I went to work at the City of North Battleford as a detachment clerk … Of course you get to know the people, the members. I thought I should reapply. I did.”
Wild stepped into policing because she wanted to help people in different communities and not be behind a desk for the rest of her life, she said.
Her first posting was in Osoyoos B.C. where she worked for 11 years. She also had postings in Oliver, Surrey, Penticton, Dawson Creek and Prince George.
She is married to Insp. Terry Wild, who is in charge of all the operations communications in RCMP’s K Division, and they have four children and three grandchildren.
Red Deer’s next police chief is expected to be named in the coming months.
crhyno@www.reddeeradvocate.com