THIRTY-THREE YEARS: The Unfiltered Memoir of a Cop by Rob G Rothwell

The Author Rob Rothwell is a Canadian author living in Vancouver, where he was born and raised. He was the second youngest of five siblings. A household full of kids meant the house was always noisy and bustling with life. This was a working family, money was tight, but his parents’ always ensured food was on the table and that the five of them were brought up in a safe loving environment, but an environment of boundaries and rules that distinguished what was right and acceptable and what was not. These core principles instilled into him by his parents has resonated with Rob throughout his whole life both professionally and privately. Nonetheless, there was always room for a little adolescent mischief and teenage rowdiness growing up in the rougher side of Vancouver. As a child Rob saw himself as a shy introvert boy lacking something of the brazen bravado his elder brothers possessed, he knew this diffident characteristic of his would have to change when he joined the Police, and it did. Vancouver is a cosmopolitan city that is surrounded by outstanding natural beauty and when you look at the wildlife that lives around that part of Canada you must stop and think, wow what a wonderful place to live. Rob has long embraced the natural beauty around him and is often out in the wilds, cycling, skiing or sailing. I laughed with Rob the other day as we chatted about how to put this podcast together when rob recalled as a young man, he would go to the gym to carry out arduous exercises to stay Police fit, now a days those rigorous routines have been replaced with stretching classes which he and his wife to whom he has been married to for thirty-eight attend most weeks. Oh, how time can be so cruel for most of us, yet like most of us Rob is still young at heart and that’s all that matters. A thirty-three-year career in Vancouver Police Department which started when he was twenty exposed Rob to a mixed bag of life, he worked uniform patrol, bicycle patrol, and plain clothes crime task force. He’s been a school liaison officer, a Drug Squad detective, and a member of the Vancouver Integrated Intelligence Unit, to that we add Inspector in charge of the Internal Investigation, Criminal Intelligence and Patrol Support Section of the Vancouver Police. Towards the end of his career, he became the Superintendent overseeing the Criminal Investigation Division for Homicide, Robbery, Arson, Financial Crime and Special Investigations. I asked Rob for a quirky story, and he sure came up trumps: Quirky Story Many years ago, a friend and I were out one evening and decided to grab a bite at a café, which was featuring a new line of herbal teas. I’ve been a diehard coffee drinker, so I thought it was time to expand my ‘sipping’ horizons. I asked the server which herbal tea she would recommend to a novice, she suggested Chamomile due to its ‘delicate’ flavour profile. She bought over a pipping hot tea pot and instructed us to let it brew for four minutes, before we began sipping. Hmm… delicate for sure, but the flavour was there. Not forward, but softly delightful. After a while the server returned to refill our pot. She asked how we liked the tea. I delivered an insightful review of its appealing aroma and delectable intricacies, following which the server pulled the lid from the tea pot and exclaimed, ‘oh my God, I forgot to put in the tea bags!’ I think ‘no comment,’ would be a fair assessment here. Check out our video chat about it here!