Bob Paulson


Robert Wilfred "Bob" Paulson, is a former Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He previously served as the Deputy Commissioner, Federal Policing from November 2010 to November 2011. He replaced the first civilian Commissioner, William J. S. Elliott, who subsequently worked with INTERPOL. He retired from the RCMP at the end of June 2017.

Life and career

Paulson was born in Lachute, Quebec. He joined the Canadian Forces after high school and served in the ranks for six years. Leaving the Forces in 1984, he spent two years at Simon Fraser University and then joined the RCMP as a cadet in 1986.
Paulson's first posting was to Chilliwack Detachment. He spent the next 19 years in various RCMP postings in British Columbia before being transferred to National Headquarters in Ottawa.
Commissioner Paulson has shown resistance to commenting on proposed changes to the way police deal with marijuana offences. He was quoted as saying "I'm a simple country cop you know. I'm in the business of policing and others are in the business of policy and law. However, the following year he opined "The people that use drugs are not the people we got to be bothering, right? We've got to be sort of helping them."
Paulson retired on June 30, 2017 as per memo released within the RCMP.

Awards