Retired officer finds ‘sense of purpose’ in helping keep kids safe

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This article was published 27/01/2025 (296 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jim Dao has always wanted to help people, and for 25 years he did that as an RCMP officer. Now that he’s retired, Dao helps people by volunteering.

The 53-year-old Winnipegger is co-chair of the Interlake Sexual Exploitation Educators, a committee based in Selkirk that is dedicated to raising awareness about child and youth sexual exploitation.

“When you retire, you still want to find a sense of purpose in life, and (the committee) has done that for me,” Dao says.

Dao joined the group in 2016 when he was a community liaison officer and school liaison officer in Selkirk. When he retired from the RCMP in 2020 and the committee asked him to stay, he was happy to oblige.

Dao and co-chair Sherisse Picklyk Dear give presentations to students throughout the Interlake about internet safety, online sextortion, cyberbullying and sexual exploitation.

“When I was the school liaison officer… that really opened my eyes to some of the things that students are dealing with on a day-to-day basis,” he says. “Being on the committee and doing these presentations propelled me to continue to work with (the committee).”

As per the federal government, cybertip.ca, Canada’s national tip line, processed more than 4.3 million child sexual exploitation reports from 2014 to 2020.

Statistics Canada says the rate of online child sexual exploitation reported to police rose by 58 per cent from 2019 to 2022, and police data show the number of cases continues to rise.

During presentations, Dao discusses both in-person and online sexual exploitation.

“Sexual exploitation can happen anywhere, at any time, to anybody,” Dao says. “I hope we can continue to provide this message to our young people to make them aware this is out there and they have to be very cautious about who they’re dealing with at all times.”

Dao’s experience working in the Interlake gives him a special skill-set and knowledge about the law, what rural kids are experiencing, and how communities and organizations work together to support them, says Picklyk Dear, a community liaison counsellor at Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority.

She says Dao is a natural.

“Jim is a pretty easygoing guy,” she says. “He makes a real concerted effort to talk to kids about what they’re into — what video games they like to play, what runners they like to wear… They respect him.”

Dao also gives presentations to parents, and is working with the committee to have a billboard and bus bench ads put up in the Selkirk area to underscore the dangers of sexual exploitation.

When he isn’t volunteering, hitting the gym or spending time with his family, Dao works as a background actor in film productions — a pursuit that’s earned him the nickname “Hollywood” from his committee colleagues.

“It gets me out of the house, it gives me the opportunity to meet new people and see a side of an industry I’ve always enjoyed,” he says.

While working on Nobody 2, an upcoming action movie that was shot in Manitoba last summer, Dao landed a small speaking role playing “a high roller in a casino” opposite the film’s star, Bob Odenkirk.

When the Better Call Saul actor went off-script, Dao relied on the improvisation skills he learned during his 15 years as an undercover officer to keep the scene going.

“We all know once the actual film comes out, some scenes are deleted,” Dao says. “I’m hoping this is not one of them.”

If you know a special volunteer, email aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca.