Over Verna Mendes’s 25 years at the BC RCMP, she’s helped solve criminal investigations, implemented new drug testing methodologies and worked on high-profile cases that set legal precedents.
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Her role in making major change when it comes to the law should be no surprise to anyone who grew up with her. She knew from a young age that she wanted to help unravel legal mysteries.
“When I was young, I was always into detective shows,” says Mendes. “I knew I wanted to solve crimes, but I also knew I would have to be a police officer, and in order to do that, you have to do a lot of break-up-the-bar-fights several years before you could get into being a detective. I thought: I really like science, I love biology and there’s this niche called forensic science.”
Armed with an undergrad degree in biology from SFU and in the midst of completing a master’s in forensic science from King’s College in England, she entered the BC RCMP in DNA analysis at their forensic lab in 2001 but was soon offered a job in toxicology due to her experience in alcohol analysis at Labatt Breweries. She eventually worked her way up to becoming the head of toxicology—then the entire forensic lab.
During the post, her work helped set the legal precedent for breathalyzer testing province-wide, even as she developed methodologies to help detect drugs “faster, better and more accurately” in the fentanyl drug crisis.
She also helped revamp the RCMP’s drug-testing methods, bringing in new instruments and creating a now-decade-plus collaboration with Health Canada so that labs could spot deadly new analogues.
“They’re seizing the drugs from the outside, and we’re analyzing the drugs that [resulted in fatality], so [I was] bridging that gap between another federal agency,” she says. “That collaboration remains to this day.”
In 2023, Mendes switched posts to become the director of business integration.
“When you have to build a new detachment, a new police station, we have to procure new police vehicles, new boats, all kinds of bulletproof vests,” she explains of her new department. “I call it the business side of keeping the police operational.”
What is a small daily joy of yours?
Tim Hortons coffee in the morning.
What is your go-to reset ritual?
“Talking to my best friend on the commute from Vancouver to Surrey.”
What is one misconception about your industry?
“People tend to have a negative connotation about the government, [but] there are a lot of hard-working people in government and in the RCMP.”
