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Commanding officer ranks up

Colin Folk recently passed the RCMP exam to become sergeant
Boyle Cpl Folk web
Colin Folk has been the commanding officer at the Boyle RCMP Detachment, as a corporal, since July 19, 2019, but recently ranked up after passing the RCMP sergeant exam. Submitted.

BOYLE - Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. 

That’s the tune RCMP members at the Boyle detachment may be singing, since commanding officer Cpl. Colin Folk ranked up to become Sgt. Colin Folk in November. 

Folk is originally from Regina, which is also home to the RCMP Training Academy, so he lived only 15 blocks away. He started his law enforcement career in Athabasca in 2007, and has been the commanding officer at the Boyle detachment since arriving in the village in July 2019.

“I had never been to Athabasca before, so I basically just threw a dart at the map. I Googled it a little bit, and I liked the area, the town was beautiful, with the river running through it, so I put it on my list and I ended up getting it,” said Folk in an interview last Thursday. 

“I was young, you go there and you meet new friends and you get to know the community and the people, and it really becomes just as much of a home as where you grew up.” 

Since then he also spent time at detachments in Fort Chipewyan and Smoky Lake before arriving in Boyle. 

“I’ve been around the area for my whole career and I have no intentions of leaving the area. I like the community I police in Athabasca County, Buffalo Lake and the Village of Boyle, so I’m happy where I’m at and this is where I intend to stick around,” he said. 

In the RCMP chain of command, members must serve for a certain number of years before ranking up and then complete a test, and determine their competencies in certain aspects of the job. 

For instance, said Folk, the corporal exam he took previously, focused a lot more on skills needed on the front lines, whereas the sergeant exam he just completed has a lot more content regarding detachment management. 

To move from constable to corporal, officers must have seven years on the force, a passing score on the exam and then they are evaluated on 10 different competencies by a board of subject matter experts that determines whether they are ready to rank up. After that, two years experience is required to move further up the chain. 

This promotion won’t necessarily get him off the streets though, which is one of the benefits to working in a smaller detachment, he said. 

“In these smaller detachments and smaller communities, I still get a chance to go out on the road and do police work, which I love. My biggest fear in promoting higher is getting stuck behind a desk 100 per cent of the time ... I’m at least 15 years away from being desk-bound.” 

[email protected] 

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