Shawn Devine’s policing career with the North Bay Police Service is now at an end after the service swore in its new chief and deputy.
Devine ends a 31-plus year in policing, all of it withinDevine North Bay.
He graduated from the Ontario Police College in 1988 and joined the local service as a constable in 1988.
He moved up over the years, culminating in 2016 when he became chief.
Following the swearing-in of the department’s new top officials, last week Devine reflected on his career.
“For a small organization I’ve had a lot of opportunities,” he said.
“I went to England on an education exchange and worked with the OPP and RCMP with the G20 Summit for two years.”
Those are just a couple of examples Devine brought up.
In summarizing his career, he called it “super” and the words of his mother came to mind in terms of how things play out in someone’s life.
“My mom always said when you (talk) about your kids, a lot of the bad memories go away and I think it’s the same with your career,” he said.
“There have been some heartaches and some things that I’ve left unfinished in my job, but overall it’s been really good. It’s a good day.”
Devine hopes that new Police Chief Scott Tod can get some of the measures both men initiated three years ago.
He believes the department is in very good hands and he’s also very optimistic about the future of the department because of the existing personnel.
“We have some really smart and educated young people coming up that I can see in a command staff position in about five or six years,” said the retired Police Chief.