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New Oak Bay officer has exemplary track record

Rick Anthony moves from VicPD to Oak Bay police department
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Const. Rick Anthony adds to his impressive resume in Oak Bay.

The Oak Bay Police Department’s newest member Const. Rick Anthony has been a police officer for 28 years.

He joined the Oak Bay Police after three years with the Canadian Pacific Railway Police in Vancouver and 25 years with the Victoria Police Department.

“Cobst Anthony has a long, rich policing history in the Capital Regional District dating back to his time spent as a reserve constable with the Oak Bay Police department in the 1980s,” said Deputy Chief Kent Thom.

“He is passionate about being active in the community, as is evidenced by his involvement in numerous community groups and local committees.”

Anthony is very involved in the community and sits on the board of directors of the Victoria Hospitals Foundation, Restorative Justice Victoria, and Leadership Victoria. He grew up in Oak Bay, attended St. Michaels University School and Oak Bay High. He started his policing career as a reserve officer with the Oak Bay Police Department.

In 1990, while with VicPD, Anthony developed and implemented the first police mountain bike section in B.C. and was the first of two bike officers at that time. He also worked in media relations, community policing, traffic, patrol and detective divisions.

In 1994, Anthony was awarded a medal of bravery from the Albert Schweitzer Society, an Austrian Humanitarian Organization, for rescuing two men from a burning house in James Bay.

In 1999, he received a Chiefs Commendation for locating and assisting in the arrest of a murder suspect while off-duty. He received another commendation for setting up and supervising a cold weather shelter in 2004 for more than 85 local homeless people during a period of extreme cold weather – the origin of what is now known as the Victoria regional extreme weather protocol.

In 2001, Anthony’s career highlight was to be seconded to the United Nations Mission in Kosovo where he developed and commanded the first UN Police Helicopter Unit and flew on 85 missions in support of war crimes investigations, weapons smuggling and human trafficking offences.

In 2011, he was honoured at the Victoria Leadership Awards and received the Leadership Victoria Alumni award, which recognizes a graduate of the Leadership Victoria program who has demonstrated exemplary leadership in the community. Recently Anthony was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal.

“He has made it very clear that he has many productive years of policing ahead of him and is very excited about spending those years devoted to making Oak Bay a better and safer community in which to live,” said Thom.

Anthony and his wife Christine live in Oak Bay.