Bill Fordy, O.O.M.

Chief of Police 

Chief Bill Fordy

 

Appointed by the Regional Municipality of Niagara Police Service Board on February 1, 2024, Chief of Police Bill Fordy is a 35-year policing veteran.

 

He previously served as Deputy Chief with the Niagara Regional Police for over 6 years, leading service delivery model reviews; enhanced engagement with the community; implementing business intelligence processes to streamline internal communication; developing and implementing a respectful workplace policy and workload study to measure the pressures placed upon our front-line police officers.

 

Chief Fordy also led the Service through the pandemic; led and facilitated the development of two Strategic Plans; inspired both the Mental Health Strategy and Diversity Plan; enhanced relationships with the Police Association, the Police Services Board, and Service Members, and championed the creation of the Corporate Strategy and Innovation office.

 

Prior to joining the Niagara Regional Police Service, he served as the RCMP Assistant Commissioner overseeing all operational and administrative matters of policing in the Lower Mainland District (LMD) of British Columbia and five Integrated Units - the Integrated Homicide Investigative Team (IHIT), LMD Emergency Response Team, Integrated Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Service, LMD Integrated Forensic Identification Service and the Police Dog Service. The LMD and Integrated Units covers 13 detachments in 28 communities, with 3,522 employees serving over 1.8 million people and over 40 Indigenous communities with a combined budget of approximately $414 million.  

 

He has held a variety of senior leadership positions including Operations Officer - Inspector of the Integrated Homicide Investigative Team; Superintendent in-charge of Investigative Services of the Surrey, British Columbia RCMP detachment; and Chief Superintendent; the Officer in Charge (OIC) of the Surrey, British Columbia RCMP detachment.

 

Among his many accomplishments, Chief Fordy has been a leader and expert on interviewing techniques and major case management.  While involved in a series of murder investigations early in his career, he saw challenges in law enforcement's ability to secure confessions from suspects.  Taking the initiative, he met with experts to develop solutions, creating the concept of a regional interview team in 1999, helping establish such teams and to create standardized training across Canada. As a result of his work in the field of police interviewing, hundreds of high-profile investigations have been successfully resolved and important case law has been created.

 

In 2014, he was invested as a Member of the Order of Merit of the Police Forces by the Governor General of Canada and in 2019 was elevated to the higher status of the ‘Officer of the Order of Merit’ level. He has received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, and the RCMP E Division Commanding Officers Commendation. The latter was for his outstanding service in the investigation and disappearances of a large number of women from the Metro Vancouver area.  As the main interviewer of the suspect, Chief Fordy helped develop strategies to gather evidence that eventually led to the conviction of Robert Pickton for the murders.

 

He serves as a member of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP), and serves as a member, and a former Director, of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) and as a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP). Chief Fordy is the recipient of the distinguished 2023 CACP Recognition Award, presented to individuals who exemplify courage, integrity, respect, transparency, inclusiveness, excellence and compassion; and demonstrate exceptional involvement, extraordinary support, and outstanding initiative in advancing the CACP’s goals and strategic priorities. He has served as a Police Services Board Member for the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority (Transit Police) and was a member of the British Columbia Association of Chiefs of Police and the Board of Directors for the Organized Crime Agency of British Columbia.

 

Chief Fordy is physically active and demonstrates leadership in all aspects of life. He is active in the community and served for over a decade as a volunteer coach and executive member of the local Minor Hockey Association. He played junior and professional hockey prior to becoming a police officer and he is a three-time Ironman triathlete and participated in the Boston Marathon on April 17, 2017.