Candidates for GLEPHA Board of Directors Election 2026: President
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List of nominees for President:

  1. Richard Bent

I have been a member of GLEPHA since its inception, and was among a number of individuals who were involved in developing the initial concept of a global research association and saw it through to creation and incorporation.  I have been on the Board of Directors of GLEPHA since its inception in 2017, first as Vice-President, and then as President for the past 6 years.  I have been directly involved in the creation of policies, practises and procedures, and the development of strategic plans for GLEPHA.  I have been on the Planning Committees of several LEPH conferences.

I served 35 years in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the last 7 of which were in executive positions.  I have considerable leadership experience being responsible the operations and administration of police services delivery under contract to the Province of British Columbia.  I served on many boards with the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and on a number of external boards, notably the Ending Violence Association of BC and the Association of Specialised Victim Assistance. I have been at Simon Fraser University for 17 years, now as an Adjunct Professor in the School of Criminology.  The focus of my research is very much aligned with the objectives of GLEPHA. I have an MA in Criminal Justice.

The three priorities for the GLEPHA Board are:

  1. Implementing the Theory of Change (strategic plans) – During the past year the Board went through the exercise of developing a long-term Theory of Change model.The next important steps will be to use this model to advance GLEPHA’s aims and objectives.  Implementation is often where strategic planning fails, so the priority is to set clear tasks, assign those tasks with time lines and with authority and accountability.
  2. Building capacity – Developing strategic partnerships or alliances with academic institutions, government ministries, and LEPH practitioner organisations. In particular, one key priority is to develop formalised partnerships with trusted organisations to secure contract work related to the law enforcement and public health agenda.
  3. Make Permanent the Office of Executive Director and Secretariat – We need to move from a reliance on volunteers, to finding sustainable revenue sources which will enable GLEPHA to establish permanent executive director and secretariat positions.This capacity is critical in order to attract permanent funding and to properly promote GLEPHA and support its activities.