Kash Heed

Kash Heed (born November 1955) is a Canadian politician and former police officer. Since 2022, Heed is a member of Richmond City Council. Heed served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, representing the riding of Vancouver-Fraserview, from 2009 to 2013. A member of the BC Liberal Party, from 2009 to 2010 he was the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General in the Campbell ministry.

Before he entered politics, he was the chief constable of the West Vancouver Police Department and a superintendent with the Vancouver Police Department, and was the first Indo-Canadian police chief in Canada.

Policing
Heed graduated from the B.C. Police Academy in 1979 and began his career as an officer with the VPD. He was the superintendent in charge of the south part of Vancouver, and as an Inspector was commander of District 3, which corresponds to the southeast quadrant of Vancouver. Other roles in his career with the VPD have included heading the drug squad and Indo-Canadian gang task force, as well as implementing the department's COMPSTAT information technology system.

In June 2007 he lost out to Deputy Chief Jim Chu for the position of Chief Constable of the VPD, but days later was appointed to that title in West Vancouver. He led the West Vancouver Police Department for 19 months and resigned on February 23, 2009.

During his time as Chief Constable, Heed advocated the creation of a regional police force to fight gang crime.

He is a published author who also teaches criminology and criminal justice at two B.C. colleges. He pioneered initiatives aimed at crime reduction and prevention as well as greater community and police engagement. He led the Indo-Canadian Task Force and inspired the formation of grassroots organizations dedicated to preventing gang violence.

Politics
On April 8, 2009, Heed announced he would run for the BC Liberal Party in the riding of Vancouver-Fraserview in that year's provincial election. Heed was called a star candidate for the party. During his campaign, Heed's opponent and main electoral rival in the British Columbia New Democratic Party, Gabriel Yiu, suggested that Heed's using photos of himself a police uniform in his campaign materials was a violation was improper. Heed was elected, defeating Yiu by over 800 votes.

Heed was appointed to the B.C. cabinet as Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General on June 10, 2009. His responsibilities under this portfolio included crime prevention, law enforcement, victim services, road safety and emergency preparedness.

On April 9, 2010, Heed resigned in response to an unspecified RCMP investigation involving violations of the Elections Act. Heed was the third consecutive solicitor-general to step down in a 25-month period. Fund-raising irregularities subsequently came to light but the Special Prosecutor exonerated Heed of involvement and he came back into cabinet on May 4, 2010. Then, less than 24 hours later, the Special Prosecutor himself resigned when it was discovered that the law firm he came from had made financial contributions to the election campaign of Heed's party, the Liberals. Heed, once again, stepped down pending a more detailed probe into the case.

During the investigation, Heed admitted to exceeding the campaign spending limit by $4,000, but denied knowing of it at the time. Heed was fined $11,000, but allowed to keep his seat in the Legislature and cleared of criminal wrongdoing.

Heed did not run for re-election in the 2013 election.

Radio broadcasting
In 2016, Heed started as the morning talk-show host for 107.7 Pulse FM, a new English-language radio station based in Surrey, British Columbia. Heed has been very critical of the handling of the escape of Robbie Alkhalil, saying on 26 July 2022: "I have never in my 32 years in policing, and my time since policing, seen such an inept investigation on a suspected murderer that has escaped from one of our secure institutions. I visited that institution, you just have to look at the incredible surveillance system that they have there, the quality of that system, and how could you not have images of individuals that assisted in that escape not available to the public. But you have photos taken off the internet, that are not even them, that you publish as accomplices to the escape? For you to get into the facility or anywhere near where some of the prisoners would be, especially some of these high risk prisoners, you will have gone through several surveillance systems or you ought to have gone through several surveillance systems, which would have captured your image. Alkhalil obviously had a well-planned escape plan, and who knows where he is right now, whether he is sitting low and waiting for things to calm down, or he's already made his way to another country. Will we ever know? I'm not sure. But do we have confidence that the investigation will lead us or give us the answers? No, I don't have the confidence in it."

Return to politics
In 2022, Heed announced that he was standing for a seat on the Richmond City Council in that year's municipal elections. His bid was supported by councillor Derek Dang, and the two formed a joint slate as Richmond Rise. Heed also mulled standing for mayor in the future. On October 16, 2022, Heed was elected to council, taking the last of eight seats.

In February 2024, Heed, alongside Councillor Laura Gillanders, put forth a motion to consider implementing a supervised consumption site at the Richmond General Hospital. The proposal drew backlash from the community, with 20,000 signing a petition against the construction of a consumption site and calls for further community consultation. The motion passed, 7–2. However, Mayor Malcolm Brodie said that the city would not seek approval for a site.