Deputy Chief Constable Bob Rolls

Deputy Chief Constable Bob Rolls has been a member of the Vancouver Police Department since 1977. He was born and raised in Vancouver, where he graduated from Point Grey Secondary School. Prior to joining the Department he completed a Bachelor's Degree in Urban Geography at the University of British Columbia.

His previous assignments include all four Patrol Districts, Planning and Research, Investigations, Communications, the Emergency Response Team (ERT) and Criminal Intelligence. Prior to his promotion to Inspector, DCC Rolls was the Sergeant in charge of the Recruiting Unit. Under his leadership Recruiting was responsible for numerous initiatives directed at attracting potential applicants and streamlining the recruiting process without compromising traditional high standards.

Following his promotion to Inspector he was assigned to District One, where his initiatives included the re-introduction of beat teams to the Granville Street area and the development of strategies to effectively police the entertainment district. During this assignment he also worked on the road as the Car 10 Duty Officer, responsible for controlling the police response to serious incidents.

DCC Rolls next spent two years as the Inspector in charge of the Human Resources Section, where he was responsible for career planning, transfers, performance management and other matters relating to the approximately 1,300 sworn and civilian employees of the Vancouver Police Department.

He was most recently Commander in District Two. This area has long been recognized as one of the most challenging areas to police in Canada. It includes the very unique communities of the Downtown Eastside, Chinatown, Gastown and Grandview / Woodlands.

During this assignment Deputy Chief Constable Rolls led a number of highly innovative initiatives to tackle the deeply entrenched underground economy of the Downtown Eastside. These projects targeted corrupt single room occupancies (SROs), licensed premises, pawn shops and second hand stores. Project Haven involved undercover officers using welfare checks to rent rooms in three problem SROs for a period of six weeks and exposed the appalling living conditions that exist in the Downtown Eastside. These projects have resulted in licence suspensions or the closure of many corrupt businesses. Along with intelligence-based policing strategies, they collectively led to a thirty percent reduction in property crime in District Two over the three years he was assigned to this area.