Latest / Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam / A Coffee with Doug Lang!
Transcript
- 0:01Hi, I'm Doug Lang and you are listening to Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam.
- 0:18Jennifer, it's busy in the coffee shop today.
- 0:21It's very busy in the coffee shop.
- 0:23Like, I haven't seen it this full for a very long time.
- 0:25No, it's very loud.
- 0:25Of course, we're not in here every day.
- 0:28Well.
- 0:28Pretty much, though.
- 0:29Yeah, sometimes.
- 0:30Anyway, we say that to say, welcome to Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam, and we are coming to you live from the Wall Coffee Roasters in the heart of Beautiful Downtown Acheson.
- 0:42That's right.
- 0:42So if you hear some noise in the background, people talking, coffee machines whirring, all that kind of stuff, it's because we're live at the coffee shop.
- 0:49We are.
- 0:49Yeah.
- 0:50Cam, have you tried the new spring drinks yet?
- 0:51No, I didn't know they had new spring drinks.
- 0:54The strawberry ones.
- 0:55Oh, the strawberry matcha?
- 0:57Yeah.
- 0:57And the mocha?
- 0:57I don't even know what matcha is.
- 0:58I know.
- 0:59I was going to look that up in Google.
- 1:01I was going to do the Google on matcha.
- 1:02I think it's green.
- 1:03No, but isn't it strawberry?
- 1:05But yeah.
- 1:06I don't know.
- 1:06I don't like matcha.
- 1:08I don't know.
- 1:08I've never had it.
- 1:09So you can't say you don't like it.
- 1:10I know, but I'm like a kid.
- 1:11I don't like it even though I never had it.
- 1:13But nonetheless, I probably like it.
- 1:14And people seem to like it.
- 1:16They do.
- 1:16So come on down to the Wall Coffee Roaster and check it out.
- 1:19Get a new spring drink.
- 1:20Yes.
- 1:20Anyway, awesome.
- 1:22Bring your friends here if you've never brought them here because it's a great place to hang out.
- 1:25But we want to let you know that today, Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam is being brought to you by Wing Snob Canada.
- 1:32Where the wings are fresh, never frozen, with 16 different flavors.
- 1:36Four rubs. Cam, what's your favorite flavor?
- 1:38My favorite flavor is what's that one called?
- 1:43Is it the mango?
- 1:44The mango habanero.
- 1:45I love the mango habanero.
- 1:46That's pretty good.
- 1:47And I love the buffalo.
- 1:49Snobby Q is pretty good, too.
- 1:50Snobby Q is good, but you know what I really love is the Parm Dip.
- 1:53Yeah, that is true.
- 1:55I order extra Parm Dip.
- 1:56Not that I need the extra Parm Dip.
- 1:58I just order the extra Parm Dip, and it's awesome.
- 2:00So hey, if you don't know what to have for dinner tonight, check out Wing Snob.
- 2:0410 locations in the city of Edmonton.
- 2:06No.
- 2:07Yes.
- 2:07Yes.
- 2:08One in Grande Prairie.
- 2:09One in Calgary.
- 2:11And if you're wondering, what do I make for the family tonight?
- 2:14I don't know.
- 2:15Wing Snob.
- 2:16Exactly.
- 2:17We also want to give a shout out to the preferred printer of Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam, Mprint Sign and Print Solutions here in Acheson.
- 2:25Amazing people.
- 2:26They'll do whatever you want.
- 2:27They'll do your business cards.
- 2:28They'll do booklets.
- 2:29They'll do everything.
- 2:31They'll do everything.
- 2:32They did our mugs.
- 2:33They did our mugs.
- 2:33We had a banner we put up this morning.
- 2:35We had a banner.
- 2:36That was great.
- 2:37They did our banner.
- 2:37They did my water bottle.
- 2:39They did everything.
- 2:40They're amazing.
- 2:41Check them out for all your printing needs.
- 2:42They are classy, classy, classy printers.
- 2:44And no matter where you live, hey, they'll do the job for you because Don and Jan do an amazing job.
- 2:49www.Mprint.ca.
- 2:53Right?
- 2:54Yeah, you got it right this time.
- 2:55Did I get it right?
- 2:56Because sometimes I say com.
- 2:57I know.
- 2:58But it's CA.
- 2:58You got it.
- 2:59I know.
- 2:59This is what bothers me about the internet, the com, the CA, the org, the all that.
- 3:03I know.
- 3:04But I'd also like to go back and say www.wingsnob.ca.
- 3:09Yes.
- 3:09Because that's where you can find out where Wing Snob is or order online or order through...
- 3:14I'm not going to say that.
- 3:15Don't say that.
- 3:16I'm not going to say that.
- 3:17I don't want to say that.
- 3:17No.
- 3:18Just go to the restaurant.
- 3:19And go to the restaurant.
- 3:20Anyway, I'm very excited today.
- 3:23Well, I don't want to say that.
- 3:24I know.
- 3:25But I don't want to.
- 3:26Well, don't.
- 3:26Okay, I'm not going to.
- 3:28No, I'm very...
- 3:29I'm so excited today because last week...
- 3:34No, should I say it that way?
- 3:35Because it might not go back to back.
- 3:37I don't know.
- 3:38I just messed that up.
- 3:39You can just say in a recent podcast.
- 3:42In a recent podcast. Do you like that?
- 3:43I like that.
- 3:44In a recent podcast, we had the amazing Georgialee Lang.
- 3:49We did.
- 3:50Yeah.
- 3:50She was amazing.
- 3:51I know.
- 3:52And today, we have the other half, the other side, the part two...
- 3:59No, it's not part two.
- 4:01The other guy, not the other guy.
- 4:03The guy.
- 4:05I gotta stop while I'm...
- 4:07You should be intorducing. You should just stop while you're ahead.
- 4:08Because I'm not doing a good job.
- 4:10But my friend, he's been my friend for a long time.
- 4:14I'm gonna tell a story about him a little later.
- 4:16But my friend, the guy I admire, I do.
- 4:21I look up to him, literally.
- 4:22Because like I said in the last podcast, he's like seven foot fourteen.
- 4:26And I'm like five foot zero.
- 4:28And I gotta like get a chiropractor after.
- 4:31Anyway, he's awesome.
- 4:33He's amazing.
- 4:33Introduce our guest.
- 4:34Our guest today is Doug Lang.
- 4:38Now, Doug was with the Vancouver Police Department.
- 4:41That's right.
- 4:42Doug, what did you retire as?
- 4:45Well, I retired from the vice section where I had...
- 4:51Vice?
- 4:51What is vice?
- 4:52Well, they do a lot of street work, detectives, with young women working the streets.
- 5:01They do a lot of the immigration of the children into our country and where these kids are brought in and are put into prostitution.
- 5:17They do the dirty work that the rest of the organization doesn't want to do.
- 5:22A lot of the sexual assaults of children.
- 5:26And for many years, you were in the Vancouver Downtown Eastside.
- 5:30I was, as a younger guy in uniform.
- 5:33That's right.
- 5:34And we talk about the Downtown Eastside from time to time.
- 5:37And we're going to get into that.
- 5:38We will get into that.
- 5:38But we have to take it back to the beginning.
- 5:40That's right.
- 5:41We're getting way ahead of ourselves on the podcast, which can throw everything off.
- 5:45I know.
- 5:45Because it already threw us off a couple of times today.
- 5:49Anyways, go ahead.
- 5:50OK.
- 5:50This is how we start every podcast.
- 5:52We need to know about Doug.
- 5:53So, Doug, tell us, where were you born and where did you grow up?
- 5:58You know, that's so long ago.
- 5:59I'm not sure I remember.
- 6:03I'm not sure.
- 6:04Let me think.
- 6:04It was on the prairies.
- 6:05It was a medium-sized city in the middle of Manitoba.
- 6:09Manitoba?
- 6:10Winnipeg.
- 6:12Winnipeg.
- 6:13My memory is coming back now.
- 6:15That medium-sized city in Manitoba called Winnipeg.
- 6:18Winnipeg.
- 6:19And it's a bit like here in Edmonton.
- 6:22It is.
- 6:22It is. It's been compared to Edmonton.
- 6:23The weather pattern is very similar.
- 6:25So I felt very comfortable hopping off the plane to freezing cold.
- 6:29I know, because you came from Palm Springs.
- 6:30Yes, and brilliant sunshine.
- 6:32Yeah.
- 6:32You and Georgialee came together.
- 6:34We did.
- 6:34Nice.
- 6:35And you came from Palm Springs.
- 6:36We like to travel together.
- 6:37Travel together.
- 6:38They are married so.
- 6:39They are married.
- 6:40We'll get into that in a minute, because listen, we got the goods in the last podcast.
- 6:44Anyways, what high school did you go to?
- 6:48St.
- 6:48John's-Ravenscourt.
- 6:49St.
- 6:49John's Raven?
- 6:49Yeah.
- 6:50It was a private school, or still is, in the Fort Gary area.
- 6:54And you graduated high school, and then what?
- 6:57I took a year off and had a lot of fun.
- 7:00And then I went into commerce at UBC.
- 7:04Oh, UBC.
- 7:05Okay.
- 7:05Pardon me, at University of Manitoba.
- 7:07Yeah.
- 7:07And I was hopeless, hopeless at mathematics.
- 7:14But you chose commerce.
- 7:15No, my father did.
- 7:16Oh, your father.
- 7:17Oh, okay.
- 7:18My dad wanted me to join him at his firm.
- 7:21He had an international life insurance firm that he founded.
- 7:26And pretty much perfected.
- 7:28Yeah.
- 7:28And he wanted me to get into the business.
- 7:31Right.
- 7:32And I didn't want to.
- 7:33No.
- 7:34That's just not me.
- 7:36I'm not good at sitting at a desk.
- 7:37How did that go with your dad?
- 7:39Not well, but understanding that if I was such a flake at calculus, how the hell was I going to get into the numbers game in his insurnace company?
- 7:48But Doug, did you have siblings that went into the business at all?
- 7:53No.
- 7:53My brother chose to be a lawyer.
- 7:55Okay.
- 7:56Yeah.
- 7:56And dad wanted him to join too, but he decided not to.
- 8:01And my sister wanted no part of it at all.
- 8:03And she moved out of Winnipeg when she's only 18 and married a lawyer.
- 8:09So we got five lawyers in our family.
- 8:12This is sort of like a law firm.
- 8:13Yeah.
- 8:14It's not fair.
- 8:14It's not their own family law firm.
- 8:15Right.
- 8:16It's not fair.
- 8:17Five lawyers and one cop.
- 8:18Right.
- 8:19Five lawyers and one cop.
- 8:20I bet that's interesting.
- 8:21Anyway.
- 8:22Okay.
- 8:23So you didn't go into commerce.
- 8:25I did.
- 8:26I spent a year there.
- 8:27But it didn't go well.
- 8:28It was hideous.
- 8:28He's like, I'm out.
- 8:29It wasn't fun.
- 8:31I wanted to go and work.
- 8:32Do something real.
- 8:33So what did you do?
- 8:34I went out to the coast, to Vancouver.
- 8:37And I went there to learn how to fly.
- 8:39And I did.
- 8:40I picked up a pilot's license.
- 8:42And I had a job set up with Pacific Western Airlines at the time, PWA, and a bit like a small version of WestJet when they first started.
- 8:54And I decided that when I was being taught how to fly by my trainer, he just left that airline.
- 9:02And he said, you know, Doug, you love flying and you're good at it.
- 9:05He said, but you like aerobatics.
- 9:08And I said, I love aerobatics.
- 9:10That's not going to work if you're a commercial pilot.
- 9:16The people on the plane.
- 9:17Not so happy.
- 9:17No.
- 9:17Passengers, that's not good.
- 9:19They did not like flying inverted.
- 9:21Those inverted rolls were a killer.
- 9:24Especially during meal time.
- 9:26Yeah.
- 9:26Anyways, yeah.
- 9:27And it's true because, you know, the commercial airliners turn a two-minute turn, so they don't spill a drink and instead of banking, they just slide, they call it slide through the turn.
- 9:35Yeah.
- 9:36So I thought, gee, I listened to him pretty carefully.
- 9:39And I decided that my true love was going to be in policing.
- 9:44And I don't call it law enforcement.
- 9:45Right.
- 9:46Because in Canada, which is very different than the states where it is law enforcement.
- 9:49Yes.
- 9:50You break the law.
- 9:50Yeah.
- 9:51We're going to enforce that.
- 9:52Right.
- 9:52And, you know, we'll shoot you if you run away in the back sort of thing.
- 9:56In Canada, it's called peacekeeping.
- 9:58Right.
- 9:59You're a keeper of the peace.
- 10:00Right.
- 10:01And not that there aren't times where it gets violent and ugly.
- 10:05There are.
- 10:06But for the majority of time, it's keeping the peace.
- 10:10And that's the mentality that I would send out with all my people.
- 10:13So you left piloting.
- 10:15And got into policing.
- 10:16Got into policing.
- 10:17And never looked back.
- 10:17I loved it.
- 10:18Okay.
- 10:18So Doug, how old were you when you started recruit training?
- 10:22Yeah.
- 10:22Oh, gosh.
- 10:23That is a long time ago.
- 10:24That would be 24.
- 10:26Okay.
- 10:28Yeah.
- 10:2824.
- 10:29And, you know, at the time, I was told that I was overeducated because I had one year of university.
- 10:36Oh, really?
- 10:36Now, of course, they want a degree.
- 10:37Yeah, you have to have.
- 10:39Pretty much need a criminology degree.
- 10:40Did the fact that you were a pilot help?
- 10:42They didn't care.
- 10:43They didn't care.
- 10:43No.
- 10:44You know, it's funny.
- 10:45Back then, you know, you'd be in the deputy chief's office, and that would be the last review.
- 10:49You'd been written tests, and you'd been interviewed a hundred times, and they did background checks on you like crazy, you know, talking to your neighbors and in-laws.
- 10:58And here you are in the deputy chief's office, and he looks at you.
- 11:01You're standing at attention.
- 11:03It was the old days.
- 11:04Look out the window, son.
- 11:06Look out the window.
- 11:07Tell me, what type of cars do you see?
- 11:11And I'd rattle off, 57 Chevy, Salamander, you know, color, you know, whatever, rattled them all off.
- 11:18And I was a car nutty when I was a kid.
- 11:20So he said, that's good enough.
- 11:22Out you go.
- 11:23And you were hired.
- 11:24And that was it?
- 11:25That was it.
- 11:25And his secretary had said to me before I walked in to his office, his secretary, lovely woman, lovely woman.
- 11:32And she said to me, shoulders back, ramrod straight.
- 11:36That's what he likes.
- 11:39So that's what you did.
- 11:40Those were the old days, the new days, these days.
- 11:42Are you kidding?
- 11:43Not so much.
- 11:44No, not so much.
- 11:44Okay.
- 11:45All right.
- 11:45So now you're a policeman.
- 11:46I am.
- 11:47Yeah.
- 11:48Yeah.
- 11:48So then was your first role, were you in patrol?
- 11:52How did you know that?
- 11:53It's almost like you've got a police officer in your family or something.
- 11:56Yeah, she knows.
- 11:57Yeah.
- 11:57Anyway.
- 11:58Yeah.
- 11:59Yeah.
- 11:59I went in patrol and that was uniform, you know, division.
- 12:03I then went to our crime prevention unit, detective division.
- 12:07Yeah.
- 12:07And thoroughly loved that.
- 12:10Exciting stories.
- 12:11A lot of a lot of things happened back in those days.
- 12:16Doing that job, it was it was highly specialized.
- 12:18Yeah.
- 12:19You know, had the opportunity for first responders for right for serial shootings.
- 12:25Yeah.
- 12:26On campus, for instance, and first in with a partner and going through room by room looking for the bad guy.
- 12:33And so that was a lot of fun and running informants.
- 12:36And then they moved me and they moved me around quite a bit, actually.
- 12:43I would get a call from some boss.
- 12:45Yeah.
- 12:46Would you like to come in to work at such and such?
- 12:49And that really meant that that's where you're going next.
- 12:51Right, right.
- 12:51In those days.
- 12:52Yeah.
- 12:52There wasn't really the option.
- 12:53They weren't asking.
- 12:54They were telling.
- 12:55They were ask-telling.
- 12:56Yeah.
- 12:56Yeah.
- 12:57Ask-telling.
- 12:58Yeah.
- 12:58We got to be careful.
- 12:58How we say that.
- 12:59Oh that's true.
- 13:00Yeah.
- 13:00But yeah.
- 13:01OK.
- 13:01Yeah.
- 13:01All right.
- 13:02So you moved around.
- 13:03Moved around.
- 13:04I went to the motorcycle division.
- 13:05Rode on the motor core.
- 13:07It was just fun, you know, so that day.
- 13:10Is that where you got your love for your Harleys?
- 13:13In part.
- 13:14In part.
- 13:14Yeah.
- 13:15I always like motorcycling.
- 13:16But I did love them.
- 13:17And that was just a lot of fun.
- 13:20I joined our motorcycle drill corps.
- 13:22So we traveled all over Western Canada, down in the Western Seaboard States, doing motorcycle drills at parades.
- 13:27And because you were in Vancouver, you could probably ride bikes longer. Oh year round.
- 13:31You couldn't really.
- 13:32Not like Edmonton.
- 13:34Not so much.
- 13:35The drill team's pretty quiet in February.
- 13:37Yeah.
- 13:37Not so much.
- 13:38They do that with skates here.
- 13:39I think they call it the Oilers.
- 13:41That's right.
- 13:43Okay.
- 13:44Okay.
- 13:44So now you're a motorcycle cop.
- 13:47And then, what did I do next?
- 13:49Boy, you're asking me questions.
- 13:50It seems so long ago.
- 13:52After that, I decided that I wanted to move into the detective division itself.
- 13:59And I knew to prepare for that, I had to do a couple of things.
- 14:01So I went back to patrol, and was happy with that, knowing where I was going.
- 14:07And in about a year there, I grabbed a job as the spokesperson for the police department up in our media relations office.
- 14:18So I was the first constable to do that.
- 14:20And I was still a constable at the time.
- 14:22And I had a lot of fun doing that.
- 14:25You know, the morning press meetings, the briefers, just a lot of fun.
- 14:29Got to know a lot of people.
- 14:30The city offered me a job of doing their media relations work.
- 14:36And I went in to see my boss and said, I got this job offer.
- 14:40You know, what should I do?
- 14:42And he said, you choose whatever you want.
- 14:45But if you choose to go work for the city, don't think you're coming back where you left off.
- 14:51Yeah, that's right.
- 14:52And I thought, huh, I'm going to stay with this.
- 14:54I like policing.
- 14:56So life was good to me. I stayed.
- 15:00They promoted me out of that section.
- 15:03And I went into the training section.
- 15:08I headed that up for a number of years.
- 15:10They gave me another promotion.
- 15:11And it was kind of step by step.
- 15:14And as they saw things they wanted, and they had vacancies, they just moved you along.
- 15:18And I ended up at the end of my career being asked to join the vice section.
- 15:23And I had been a detective in that unit many, many years earlier.
- 15:28So I knew it like the back of my hand.
- 15:29But it was a very rewarding career.
- 15:33There's a lot of, I think, folks think it's all action.
- 15:37And it's not TV, other than Law and Order.
- 15:43Stop with your Law and Order.
- 15:44Because we had Georgialee on it, it was Law and Order.
- 15:47Law and Order, that's what it was.
- 15:49What people see on TV and policing that's not real life.
- 15:53That's true.
- 15:53And I do know this, because I should have said this to Georgialee, because she grew up in New Westminster.
- 16:00I spent three years with the New Westminster Police Victim Services.
- 16:03That's right.
- 16:04So yeah.
- 16:04That's right, you did.
- 16:05Remember that?
- 16:05I do remember that.
- 16:06Because I had to call you a couple of times.
- 16:08I do remember that.
- 16:08That's right.
- 16:09So yeah.
- 16:10So yeah, I know it's not like it is on TV.
- 16:12No, it's very different.
- 16:13No.
- 16:13Except we did go to Tim Horton's quite a bit.
- 16:16I'm just saying we did, like we did.
- 16:18Like I've just, because I pulled the midnight shifts.
- 16:20And so yeah, you had to go.
- 16:22You got to do what you got to do.
- 16:23Okay.
- 16:24All right.
- 16:24So now you're Vice Squad.
- 16:27You've been around for quite a while.
- 16:28Yeah, I'm old.
- 16:29You worked in the downtown.
- 16:30You're not old.
- 16:31So was that how you knew him from the downtown Eastside?
- 16:33No, I knew him from the church we attended.
- 16:35Okay.
- 16:35But I knew that he was, I knew he did what he did.
- 16:38Yes.
- 16:38And we, the church I attended, we did a lot of work in the downtown Eastside.
- 16:42We spent a lot of time down there.
- 16:43I spent a lot.
- 16:44You did a lot.
- 16:45In the downtown Eastside.
- 16:47So Doug was always a guy I could go to or just talk to or just throw this out at.
- 16:51Very supportive, always there and always willing to help.
- 16:53Listen, because we have listeners all over the world, I want to have Doug tell us a little bit about when we talk about the downtown Eastside in Vancouver, what does that mean?
- 17:04That's the old downtown.
- 17:06The old banks, the old stores on Hastings and Main Street.
- 17:10And it has been gentrified by the poor folks that are addicted to drugs.
- 17:18And it's changed its character considerably.
- 17:22It's a relatively dangerous place to be at night down there.
- 17:27The daytime, it's not so bad.
- 17:29But nighttime, relatively dangerous.
- 17:31The officers that are assigned to that are highly specialized in dealing with, just working with folks, I can recall, one afternoon, a young woman who's an addict.
- 17:47Hi, hi, hi, Sarge.
- 17:49How are you doing?
- 17:50And the very next day, she's got two of my officers at knife point, and wanting to stab them, because she's off her meds.
- 17:57And we always took the position that, yeah, we have, obviously, deadly force available to us.
- 18:05But the position was, hey, let's withdraw.
- 18:08Let's contain and withdraw, because she doesn't deserve that.
- 18:12So it was action-packed down there.
- 18:16A lot of things went on.
- 18:17And a lot of stuff went on back in those days that you dealt with without the justice system.
- 18:24That you could tell people, I don't want to see you on the beat for a week.
- 18:27And they would respect that.
- 18:29And folks, I'm telling you, and I watch many first responders in the Downtown Eastside, the police, ambulance, whoever, and these guys are special guys and girls that work down there.
- 18:41They really are.
- 18:43It takes a special kind of person.
- 18:45And like you said, it's a little different policing than usual.
- 18:49And it's rough and tough.
- 18:50You know, you get shot at.
- 18:52You get people trying to stab you.
- 18:55It's rough and tough.
- 18:56So I always admired them when we were down there.
- 18:58We always tried to make friends with them because we knew that they were there all the time.
- 19:03We weren't there all the time.
- 19:05So, okay, so yeah, you were in Downtown Eastside, saw a lot of things, did a lot of things, probably were a catalyst for some change, I think, in policing and things like that.
- 19:16Yeah.
- 19:17And I spent some time after that, what I call working indoors in our research department.
- 19:24And that would be, as you're saying, being a bit of a visionary and problem-solving on a larger scale than individual situations.
- 19:33And that was very rewarding too.
- 19:34But my true love was on the street one way or another, with people, working with people, and I don't mean working with police officers, I mean people that live in the city.
- 19:45Well, you're such an amazing people person.
- 19:47And you're encompassing of all.
- 19:53And that's what I love about you, Doug, is you're, you know, you're just anybody.
- 19:58Cam, wasn't there a documentary shot?
- 20:01The blue, what was it?
- 20:02The blue, what was that documentary?
- 20:04You were, I think you were, you told me you were the blue.
- 20:12Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 20:13And you had some stuff to do with that.
- 20:15Well, you know what happened with that?
- 20:17Of course, I had a lot of practice with media.
- 20:19Yeah.
- 20:20And they knew it.
- 20:21But it was interesting.
- 20:22That opportunity came up.
- 20:23They wanted to do a video, and it was professionally done.
- 20:29And nobody wanted to do it.
- 20:31They didn't want to be on the downtown in the Eastside.
- 20:34Policing in front of everybody.
- 20:36Right.
- 20:37Of course.
- 20:37Because it's rough and tough.
- 20:38Sure.
- 20:39Yeah.
- 20:39Right.
- 20:40So the chief asked me if I would do it.
- 20:42And I said, sure.
- 20:43And it was a fascinating experience.
- 20:46It was when the film team was with me, it was so quiet.
- 20:49Nothing was going on.
- 20:51Nothing was going on.
- 20:52It was just so quiet.
- 20:54It was all just routine.
- 20:55Yeah.
- 20:55Yeah.
- 20:55And of course, they were there for the, you know, they were there for the, you know, shots fired, a man down, a police officer needs help.
- 21:03So it took about four months of filming to get them what they wanted, where they saw the action they wanted.
- 21:09It was just almost the way it is.
- 21:12Murphy's law.
- 21:12Yeah.
- 21:13Yeah.
- 21:13Yeah.
- 21:13Wow.
- 21:14That's incredible.
- 21:15All right.
- 21:15So then you now in in in all with all this going on, you're a police officer, you're doing all this.
- 21:22You met a young lady.
- 21:23I did.
- 21:24And I was on duty when I met her.
- 21:27And, you know, the benefit of being on duty, young man, is you're wearing a blue uniform that for some reason, my wife to be.
- 21:38Yes.
- 21:38Liked.
- 21:39Yes.
- 21:40It worked for me.
- 21:40So I've noticed.
- 21:42So Georgialee's sitting just over here.
- 21:44Yes.
- 21:45And I noticed when we started, because we talked about this.
- 21:47We did.
- 21:48We talked about the story.
- 21:49I noticed she looked up when we started talking about it.
- 21:52She's on her phone.
- 21:53But boy, when we started talking about this, there's a little bit of attention going on here.
- 21:57OK, so where did you first meet?
- 22:01Restaurant.
- 22:02So what was the name?
- 22:04Puccini.
- 22:05Puccini.
- 22:06Yeah.
- 22:07Best Italian in town at the time.
- 22:10So the boys would go in, you know, maybe seven o'clock at night before we were going off duty.
- 22:14Yeah.
- 22:15And we'd have a nice pasta dinner.
- 22:18Yeah.
- 22:19And they had a back dining room, a small dining area.
- 22:22And we could let our hair down a little bit there.
- 22:24And the owners would come in and we'd chat back and forth.
- 22:27And one of the gals was always that served, were servers there, got assigned to do that as their regular tables as well.
- 22:35Well, one night it was Georgialee.
- 22:36Yeah.
- 22:37And this redhead walked into the room, ignoring all of us.
- 22:41Like most of them didn't ignore us.
- 22:43But Georgialee just took the orders.
- 22:45She wanted no part of anything else but to get back out of there.
- 22:49And I don't know.
- 22:52Okay, on your part, was it love at first sight?
- 22:55No.
- 22:57It was holy mackerel.
- 23:01And you ain't talking about the special in the evening.
- 23:03No, I'm not.
- 23:04Yeah, okay.
- 23:06Yeah.
- 23:07So, Georgialee leaves the room.
- 23:10And my boss is sitting at the table.
- 23:14And he says, boy, that's a good looking gal.
- 23:16And I said, no kidding.
- 23:17He said, are you interested?
- 23:19I said, yeah.
- 23:20So, unbeknownst to me, yeah, he says, Georgialee comes back in with some food for us.
- 23:26And he says to Georgialee, excuse me, would you be interested in, you know, a date with Doug?
- 23:36Georgialee sizes me up, and I guess figured it was relatively safe.
- 23:39It was a police officer, sort of thing, and well known.
- 23:42And she said, well, okay.
- 23:45So we go out on our first date a few nights later in the evening, and we went night skiing on Grousemore Mountain in Vancouver, looking down on the city, all lit up.
- 23:54It's gorgeous.
- 23:55Yeah, beautiful, beautiful.
- 23:56It was the best date of my life.
- 23:59That's the best date of my life.
- 24:00See, this story rings true.
- 24:02That's what she said.
- 24:03Did she?
- 24:03She said it was the best date of her life.
- 24:06That's right.
- 24:07No, her life.
- 24:07Her life.
- 24:08Yeah.
- 24:10Not your life.
- 24:12She said it was the best date of her life.
- 24:14It was.
- 24:14Yeah.
- 24:15And it was for me too.
- 24:16So we hit it off.
- 24:18And like all relationships, there's ups and downs.
- 24:20Yeah.
- 24:20And it took me a long time to pull the pin on marriage.
- 24:24Well, I heard that you pulled, you, she, we heard.
- 24:27Oh, did you?
- 24:28That you took a hiatus.
- 24:30Oh, yeah.
- 24:31That you took the hiatus.
- 24:33I did.
- 24:33Yeah.
- 24:34And we were going to talk to you about that.
- 24:35Like, what were you thinking?
- 24:37Like, here you had her.
- 24:38How stupid I am?
- 24:39Well, thank you for that.
- 24:41I appreciate that, Cam.
- 24:42Yeah.
- 24:42Yeah.
- 24:43How stupid are you to walk away from that?
- 24:46But we heard during that time, you never really lost touch.
- 24:50Nope.
- 24:50Never lost touch.
- 24:52Were you in the surveillance unit at that time?
- 24:56I've been there.
- 25:00I'm not right at that time.
- 25:03You know how love is.
- 25:04Yeah.
- 25:06You know, some of these marriages, they meet in school.
- 25:09And they're married before their first year of university.
- 25:11And some marriages are a guy like myself who promised my mom I would get married before I was 40.
- 25:17And I did.
- 25:18It was a couple of weeks before I was turning 40.
- 25:21So.
- 25:21Okay.
- 25:22You pulled her over.
- 25:24Oh, yeah.
- 25:25I mean, it's just...
- 25:27We heard you pulled her over.
- 25:29Oh, she's making things up.
- 25:31I wouldn't pull her over.
- 25:33No way.
- 25:34I had to ask her when you pulled her over, did you use lights and siren?
- 25:39Well, if you're going to pull someone over, you want to do it properly.
- 25:44This is great, I love this.
- 25:45You want to do it professionally.
- 25:47Yeah.
- 25:47You know, so that's very professional to pull over your future wife.
- 25:53That's right.
- 25:53Future wife.
- 25:54Yeah.
- 25:54So you pulled her over and you made amends. Rekindled.
- 25:57You said, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have never done that.
- 26:01Yeah.
- 26:02I behaved myself.
- 26:02I sent her a couple of dozen red roses and away we went.
- 26:05That's what she said.
- 26:07And at the time when we got married, it was interesting because I honestly thought I was marrying a server in a restaurant.
- 26:20Yes, because that's what she was doing.
- 26:22I had no idea of Georgialee's capacity to learn and the discipline that she lived her life by.
- 26:31And I was very happy with that because I loved her.
- 26:36But she changed along the way.
- 26:41She changed her path.
- 26:43And I found myself realizing that I married up significantly.
- 26:48And not because of her being a lawyer.
- 26:52I dated lawyers.
- 26:54But because of the value that she brings to every table, no matter what it is, people respect her.
- 27:03And she's fought hard for that, I think, over the years.
- 27:07You know, she's had her challenges, as I have too.
- 27:11They're just different.
- 27:12They just look different.
- 27:13They're all the same.
- 27:14Anyway, now, of course, I recognize that.
- 27:18I've become her driver for this trip, for instance.
- 27:21Yes.
- 27:22I was at a dinner last night with you and Georgialee, with all these people, and he introduces himself as her driver.
- 27:29I thought that was so funny.
- 27:30People were kind of snickering, but I was really snickering because I knew how true that was.
- 27:34That he does drive her everywhere, takes care of her.
- 27:37So I have a question, though.
- 27:38What's that?
- 27:39And I know that like Georgialee was in family law and did a lot of family law.
- 27:43How is the dynamic?
- 27:45I mean, here you are doing policing, right?
- 27:48And it is very criminal code.
- 27:50Here it is.
- 27:51And you're living with a lawyer.
- 27:52You're married to a lawyer.
- 27:53Yeah.
- 27:54How is that?
- 27:55That's a great question.
- 27:57It really is.
- 27:58I didn't think you'd ask it.
- 28:00Early on in our married life, we talked about Georgialee's professional career and the path that she was choosing.
- 28:09And we agreed that having me arresting people and having Georgialee spring them out of jail, probably wasn't going to make for the best marriage.
- 28:22Right.
- 28:24Georgialee wanted to be a trial lawyer.
- 28:26And she thought criminal law was the best way to do it.
- 28:29You'd start off in the prosecutor's office and then move on to your own practice.
- 28:31Yeah.
- 28:32And she quickly figured that out and thought to herself, and we discussed it, if I became a family law lawyer, I would be in trial all the time.
- 28:45And that's what she really wanted.
- 28:46And we'd have no conflicts.
- 28:49Like I told you, she's brilliant.
- 28:50I'm not.
- 28:51Yeah.
- 28:52So we had that discussion, Jennifer.
- 28:56Yeah.
- 28:56So it all worked out.
- 28:58Right.
- 28:59And what I would do, I would come home and whatever, to her duty, I would have a nice fun story for Georgialee.
- 29:06Yeah.
- 29:07Even if it was basically working in hell for the day.
- 29:10Right.
- 29:11I would have something funny that happened, because there's always something funny, because people are funny.
- 29:14Yeah.
- 29:15And I don't think she had a clue, to be honest with you, what I did some nights.
- 29:22Sure.
- 29:23A lot of nights.
- 29:23And I suspect there are other wives that married to police officers, and other husbands married to police officers, that are in the same boat.
- 29:30Yeah.
- 29:31Yeah.
- 29:31Because you don't want your spouse worried about you.
- 29:34No.
- 29:35Yeah.
- 29:35Yeah.
- 29:36Interesting.
- 29:37All right.
- 29:38So now you're her driver.
- 29:39Yes.
- 29:40Yeah.
- 29:41And I'm really good at it, because I've been highly trained.
- 29:43I know I can.
- 29:46I was going to chime in last night and say, not only her driver, her bodyguard, because you take care of her.
- 29:51I do.
- 29:52Yeah.
- 29:52Yeah.
- 29:53I do.
- 29:53You'd jump in front of a bus?
- 29:57A bus.
- 29:59Yeah.
- 29:59A bus.
- 30:00I'll do anything for that girl.
- 30:01Yeah.
- 30:01Yeah.
- 30:02Cool.
- 30:02So you're retired.
- 30:03You've been retired now.
- 30:04You talked about with Georgialee.
- 30:06You spend part of your time down South and part of your time back in Canada.
- 30:11Back in Canada.
- 30:12Six months each way.
- 30:13Yeah.
- 30:13What keeps you busy these days?
- 30:15Oh, gosh, I'm not nearly as busy as Georgialee with her law practice.
- 30:18It just is a going concern.
- 30:20I used to be much more busy within the practice on the business sort of end of things.
- 30:23Hiring, firing, and helping make things work so she could practice law and not worry.
- 30:28But those days are long gone now.
- 30:31And when I'm in Canada, well, I should say both, sit on a couple of boards involved in community work.
- 30:40I have a couple of hobbies that are...
- 30:42You love cars.
- 30:43I love cars.
- 30:45I'm passionate about cars.
- 30:46You've had some nice cars.
- 30:48I do have some nice cars.
- 30:49Okay, you have to tell us what you have now.
- 30:51Yeah, I didn't know what you have.
- 30:51You have...
- 30:53A 442, a 71 convertible 442, an Oldsmobile.
- 30:58That is highly coveted.
- 30:59It wins awards everywhere I take it.
- 31:03It's down south.
- 31:04And we've got a couple of Corvettes, which one's fairly old and the other one's actually quite new.
- 31:11Do you still have your red Corvette?
- 31:13No.
- 31:13Got a silver one and a blue one.
- 31:15And a blue one.
- 31:16Yeah.
- 31:17I remember your red one.
- 31:19Are they modern Corvettes or are they classics?
- 31:22One's a classic.
- 31:23One is just a couple of years old.
- 31:24One's one of the new C8s, the mid-engine.
- 31:27And the Oldsmobile's an old classic that I'm constantly having to fuss with just to keep on the road.
- 31:34And Georgialee told us we talked about your bikes.
- 31:36The Harley's. Motorcycles.
- 31:38Loved motorcycle all my life.
- 31:39Ridden them for 50 years.
- 31:40And we opened the door to a potential TV show with Georgialee called Lawyers on Harley's.
- 31:46Because I think that would be cool.
- 31:48That would be just like the best TV show.
- 31:50She surprised a lot of people.
- 31:51Yeah.
- 31:52Pretty diminutive little frame.
- 31:53And I even remembered the color of her Harley and her saddlebags on the Harley.
- 31:56I remember that.
- 31:57Yeah.
- 31:57The white Harley.
- 31:58Yeah.
- 31:58Yeah, that's right.
- 31:59Yeah.
- 32:00She had a beautiful bike and it was about three or four years ago.
- 32:05I came home from about a two week ride.
- 32:07Yeah.
- 32:08With some friends.
- 32:09And I said to Georgian, I said, that's it.
- 32:12I'm hanging it up.
- 32:13You're done.
- 32:13Yeah.
- 32:14My, I just, I could feel the skill set.
- 32:18Yeah, I could feel it.
- 32:19Just slipping a bit.
- 32:20Yeah.
- 32:21And you can't make mistakes on two wheels.
- 32:22Right.
- 32:24So now I go for four wheels.
- 32:25It's a lot safer.
- 32:27Like an old man, you know.
- 32:29But they're nice four wheels.
- 32:30Yeah, not complaining.
- 32:32No, that's cool.
- 32:32Not complaining at all.
- 32:34Georgialee and I are blessed.
- 32:35You know, right from day one, not without challenges, but right from day one, I knew that Georgialee and I were, we were destined for one another.
- 32:48And I don't say that in the typical way that people might.
- 32:52I woke up one evening, I was sound asleep and we weren't married.
- 32:57And I was absolutely anxious.
- 33:00And I'm not one to get anxious.
- 33:02And can't have anxious cops.
- 33:06They make mistakes.
- 33:08And I got out of bed, and I was down on my knees, which to be honest with you, I don't do.
- 33:14That's very rare.
- 33:15Partly because I just don't like being on my knees, it hurts.
- 33:17But the real reason was, and I didn't realize, I had a tear in my eye.
- 33:22And I was praying.
- 33:24And I was praying that Jesus would give me the right woman.
- 33:29I wanted to get married.
- 33:31And it took a while.
- 33:33But I came from a culture too.
- 33:35You got to understand that you don't know how many times one of my detectives would walk in my office, shut the door, can I talk boss?
- 33:42And have tears in his eyes.
- 33:43His family's left him.
- 33:45It's a very high divorce rate in big city departments is around 75 percent.
- 33:52So you want to be careful with that because I've been configured one woman, one life, and that's it.
- 34:00So I think, I think Jesus answered my prayers, to get quite frank with you, because a couple of weeks later, guess who walks back into my life?
- 34:08Well, you pulled her over. Georgialee.
- 34:09Well, yeah.
- 34:12He just said she walked back out, he pulled her over.
- 34:14Well, she got out of her car and walked.
- 34:15That's what I was going to say.
- 34:16Yeah, she walked.
- 34:16The guy's been surveilling her for like three years.
- 34:20She got out of her car and walked.
- 34:23There was a touching moment.
- 34:25I just like that.
- 34:25I know.
- 34:26People are like, what?
- 34:26I know.
- 34:27What kind of idiot are you, Cam?
- 34:28Anyway, no, and you know what?
- 34:31I mean, I've known you guys for quite a while and haven't seen you for quite a while, but you always just know Doug and Georgia Lee, like it's Doug and Georgialee, like it's just Doug and Georgialee.
- 34:41And it's fantastic.
- 34:42It's fantastic to watch.
- 34:43It's fantastic to be a part of.
- 34:45And you guys are awesome and you're awesome.
- 34:48And you have a heart as big as you are.
- 34:51I mean, and I mean that in the right way.
- 34:53You and you are, but you have a heart as big as that.
- 34:58And that's awesome.
- 34:59I love that.
- 35:00That's what I love about you.
- 35:02We have to ask, Doug, do you golf?
- 35:04Since you live on the golf course now?
- 35:07We live on a golf course in the summers in Canada.
- 35:10And oh, I'm a fabulous golfer.
- 35:16I sometimes...
- 35:16Georgialee just looked up from her phone and smiled right there.
- 35:19Yeah, there are some sometimes that I'll sometimes, I don't know, make like 190.
- 35:30And it's great.
- 35:31And then someone told me, one of my friends told me recently that it's the lower scores that count.
- 35:38Yeah, not the higher ones.
- 35:39Yeah.
- 35:41So I'm completely flummoxed.
- 35:42You thought it was a higher score.
- 35:44Yeah, I'm flummoxed with that.
- 35:46I'm still trying to figure out how to do that.
- 35:48So, I don't golf as much.
- 35:51Yeah.
- 35:52In fact, it's pretty rare.
- 35:55But you live on a golf course.
- 35:56Yeah.
- 35:57It's okay.
- 35:58It's got a nice view.
- 35:59No, it is.
- 36:00And we can heckle people going by.
- 36:02Throw things at them from the deck.
- 36:05It works really well.
- 36:06Wow, that's awesome.
- 36:07We have fun.
- 36:08We do.
- 36:09Man, like I said to Georgialee, we could probably do like part two, three, four and five with you.
- 36:15I get it.
- 36:16But this is phenomenal.
- 36:17And I just want to say it, and I do want to say it because I was so excited that you both were coming to Edmonton.
- 36:26I was excited that Georgialee was going to be speaking at the Premier's Prayer Breakfast.
- 36:29Yes.
- 36:30And I was just excited.
- 36:31I actually quite frankly didn't care much about any of that.
- 36:34What I cared about was the fact I got to see you.
- 36:37And I mean, I cared about it.
- 36:38Let's not get carried away.
- 36:40But I just, I was so excited that I have been for days that just got to get to see it.
- 36:46He has.
- 36:46And I've heard so many wonderful stories about both of you for so long.
- 36:50So it's just been fabulous to meet you both.
- 36:53Bob, I just want to thank you.
- 36:56Bob.
- 36:59Just kidding.
- 37:01We felt the same way.
- 37:02When you called, you called me, you know, and I was in the car.
- 37:07Yeah.
- 37:07And I was driving back from Barrett-Jackson, Phoenix.
- 37:10I remember thats what you told me. "I'm coming back from Barrett-Jackson." And we had a wonderful conversation.
- 37:13And it was like old days.
- 37:14It was.
- 37:15Doug and I, and he did it with other people, but I'll be honest, it was special when we did it together.
- 37:22We would go, remember, we would go to Nick's on commercial drive.
- 37:26Best Italian in town.
- 37:28Nick's had been around for like a hundred years.
- 37:30Like it was around for a long time.
- 37:32And it was this old Italian restaurant, the white and red checkered tablecloths.
- 37:37I mean, it was, he never renovated that place since day one. Didn't spend a penny.
- 37:41It was the same.
- 37:42And the food was the same.
- 37:43And I remember you'd phone me and you'd say, Cam man, let's go to Nick's.
- 37:48You bet.
- 37:48And or I'd phone you because I needed some advice and you were.
- 37:54We were there for each other.
- 37:55You were always there.
- 37:56And we go to Nick's and sometimes it was some pretty thick advice I needed.
- 38:03And we won't go into those situations, but they were people related.
- 38:06And you were always there.
- 38:07And we just have fun at Nick's and away we go.
- 38:10And those were good days.
- 38:11Life is good.
- 38:12Those were great days.
- 38:12I could easily relive those.
- 38:14Is Nick's still there?
- 38:15I heard it closed.
- 38:16Nick's is open under different ownership.
- 38:18Oh, it's probably not the same. But is it as good?
- 38:20Probably not as good.
- 38:21Well I won't condemn Nick's.
- 38:22Yes, it's it's different.
- 38:23It's different.
- 38:24Yeah.
- 38:25It was a great place.
- 38:26Yeah.
- 38:26Anyway, so thank you.
- 38:29You and Georgialee again.
- 38:31Thank you for taking the time to do this.
- 38:33We're not quite done.
- 38:34No, we have one more question.
- 38:36Jennifer has one very important question.
- 38:37Doug, what is the best piece of advice you've been given, either personally or professionally, that you carry with you to this day?
- 38:45Yeah.
- 38:49I was a young constable, and I can't remember what happened, but something ugly happened.
- 38:56And my sergeant really got on my case in front of a number of other officers.
- 39:05I had done something I guess he didn't like, and I can't remember what it was.
- 39:09And I remember after that happened, I felt pretty down.
- 39:13I was pretty young.
- 39:14And an older officer who was close to retirement came up to me and he put his arm around me and walked me away.
- 39:23He said, I got some advice for you, son.
- 39:25I'm saying, what's that?
- 39:27Don't ever let the bastards get you down.
- 39:30And I carried that all my life.
- 39:33Don't let people get you down.
- 39:36He expressed it a little differently than I would now.
- 39:41But that's what he said.
- 39:42That's great advice.
- 39:42I love that advice because there's always the naysayers or the people who just want to go at you.
- 39:49And if you let it, it'll wreck you.
- 39:52Swim at your own level.
- 39:55Just don't stop swimming.
- 39:56Don't stop swimming.
- 39:57Exactly.
- 39:58That's when you sink.
- 40:00This has been an absolute pleasure.
- 40:02And like Cam said, we could go on for six more hours.
- 40:05So thank you so much for taking the time to do this podcast.
- 40:09Thank you.
- 40:09Yeah.
- 40:10Thank you.
- 40:10And Georgialee.
- 40:11And thank you for coming to Edmonton.
- 40:13And yeah.
- 40:15Hey, everybody.
- 40:16Don't forget, if you're looking for dinner tonight, Wing Snob, www.wingsnobbs.ca or Mprint for all your printing needs, www.mprint.ca.
- 40:27That's right.
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- 40:31Tell your friends and your neighbors and your coworkers and your enemies even.
- 40:35Because if you tell your enemies and then you say, let's listen to the podcast by the end, you won't be an enemy anymore.
- 40:40And if you don't have any friends, make one just so you can listen and tell them about the podcast.
- 40:44That's right.
- 40:45And don't forget to subscribe so that you won't miss an episode of Coffee In The Park.
- 40:49Pops up on your phone.
- 40:50There it is.
- 40:51You'll listen to the podcast.
- 40:52It'll be amazing.
- 40:53So thanks, everybody.
- 40:55Thanks, everyone.
- 40:55And we'll see you next week.
- 40:56See you next week.