Vince Hawkes

Vince Hawkes serves as the Director of Global Policing for the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) from January 28th of 2019. He is responsible for leading a team of professionals focused on advancing the policing profession on the international stage through advocacy, research, outreach, engagement, and education.

This includes being responsible for the planning, directing, and supervising the global operations of the IACP to achieve the Association’s goals and objectives. He also provides substantive and strategic counsel to Association leadership, Board of Directors and specifically, the Global Policing Division through working closely with the International Vice President. Vince is also tasked to operationalize the organization’s vision for the Association’s global enterprise – and work closely with existing global resources, entities and partners and help shape future needs/directions.

Before joining the IACP and after a 34-year career in policing, Vince served as the Commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and led the organization in that role from 2014 to 2018. He was responsible for fiscal, fair and equitable policing, managing a budget in excess of 1.1 billion dollars.

The OPP is of one of North America’s largest deployed police services comprised of approximately 6,200 uniform members, 2,800 civilian employees and 850 auxiliary members. The scope of policing deployment and responsibility was stretched across 324 municipalities at the local level and provincial responsibility over the rest of Canada’s largest populated province.
He also oversaw frontline policing in 165 deployed Detachments, 6 Regional Headquarters and one Highway Division and responsible for patrolling almost one million Kms of roadways, trails and over 100,000 Kms of waterways.

The public safety mandate required the OPP to provide additional specialized support functions to any of the 52 municipal police agencies when requested, the 47 Indigenous communities or Indigenous Police Services across the province.

In addition to the OPP responsibilities, Vince also served on the Board of Directors for the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and the State & Provincial Executive Committee.

Vince also served many years as the OPP’s representative member of the Board of Directors for both the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police.

Vince is a graduate of both the University of Ottawa with a Baccalaureate in Science and the University of Toronto Rotman School of Management, Police Leadership Program and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Nipissing University. He is also a graduate of the FBI’s National Executive Institute and the International Leadership in Counter Terrorism program.
Throughout his career, Vince has received various recognitions including the Queen’s Commission, Police Exemplary Service Medal (20 & 30 year), the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal and the Sao Paulo State Highway Police 50th Anniversary medal. In 2016, Vince Hawkes was advanced from the level of “Officer” to “Commander” in the Order of Merit of the Police Force, a fellowship of honor that recognizes exemplary police service in Canada.