Coquitlam RCMP has a new officer in charge of its plainclothes investigations, crime prevention and crime reduction units.
Insp. Paulette Freill, a 26-year member of the RCMP, joined the Coquitlam detachment last week, becoming the first woman ever to serve on its senior management team.
"In one sense, we're all Mounties and Insp. Freill's credentials and experience are very impressive," said Supt. Claude Wilcott in a release. "But talking to front-line members and civilian staff, both women and men, there is a lot of excitement about having a woman on the senior management team... and a real sense that Paulette will bring a new perspective to the way we do things."
Freill joined the force in 1985, moving up the ranks while serving in detachments throughout B.C. both as a uniformed officer and in plainclothes investigative positions.
She is an expert in statement analysis and an accomplished speaker on police leadership and interview and interrogation skills.
Freill was most recently a general duty watch commander in Surrey, Canada's busiest and largest municipal RCMP detachment.
