Thursday July 24, 2025 | LANGFORD, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
RCMP Superintendent Todd Preston has announced to the west shore community that his final day of service as the Officer in Charge at the West Shore RCMP will be August 14, 2025.
Calling his service as the Officer in Charge of the West Shore RCMP as one of the greatest honours of his life, he expresses his gratitude to the community as a whole that has shown “unwavering support, trust and kindness — not just to me, but to the entire detachment”.
Preston has operated with a friendly approach in leading the RCMP which served to invite interaction from the public and likely produced the positive team energy that seems to be active throughout the detachment.
“West Shore will always be home to me in many ways,” writes Preston in his one-page letter.
“I leave knowing the detachment is in good hands and that the commitment to public safety remains strong,” says Preston in his letter.
The West Shore RCMP detachment delivers their public safety service in five municipalities — Langford, Colwood, View Royal, Highlands and Metchosin — as well as the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations.
Community timeline:
Todd Preston has led the West Shore RCMP as Superintendent since November 2020. He has served with the RCMP since October 1997 — for over 27 years.
In Langford — the largest municipality of the west shore — there have been two distinctly different city councils during Preston’s time leading the West Shore RCMP detachment: Mayor Stew Young to October 2022 (with Councillor Lillian Szpak as Protective Services Committee chair) and since then under Mayor Scott Goodmanson and a brand new council (other than Szpak).
Under Preston’s leadership a few things were highlighted in the way of handling public safety including officers on bicycles especially in trail areas, bringing in a mental health component both for service calls and the well-being of officers, and handling the ICE (Integrated Child Exploitation) investigations which took a toll on several officers. He oversaw bringing election vehicles to the RCMP fleet.
Superintendent Preston was leading the West Shore RCMP detachment during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020 and 2021) and dealing with the various community aspects of that time.
In April 2021, Superintendent Preston released a remembrance statement on the five-year anniversary of the passing of Cst Sarah Beckett as part of the West Shore RCMP Detachment’s leadership around a sad incident that has left an indelible mark on the west shore community.
Preston has attended numerous community events as a guest while on duty.
During Budget 2025, City of Langford Council held back on approving funding for all the requested additional police officers, which Preston warned would result in insufficient service to the community. Council was concerned that services aimed at supporting youth would be cut back by the detachment.
In Colwood, which is also a fast-growing community, the mayors while Preston has been Superintendent have been Rob Martin to October 2022 and Doug Kobayashi since then.
The Mayors of Langford, Colwood, Highlands and Metchosin joined Superintendent Preston on a visit to the RCMP training facility in Regina last year.
Finding a new Superintendent:
After Preston retires on August 14, Inspector Stephen Rose will be the interim Officer in Charge of West Shore RCMP. A new Superintendent will be named in the fall, according to a statement from the detachment today.
===== RELATED:
- Langford funding for police services within 2025 budget constraints (March 26, 2025)
- Four west shore mayors visit RCMP training facility in Regina (November 28, 2024)
- MLA Parmar & west shore mayors attend Mobile Integrated Crisis Response Teams update (April 29, 2024)
- Sarah Beckett remembered at 5 years passing (April 5, 2021)
- Langford protective services committee hears RCMP, fire reports at November meeting (December 7, 2019)
- Dispatch for all south island detachments under one roof (January 26, 2019)
- NEWS SECTIONS: WEST SHORE RCMP | LANGFORD