A resident of Richmond, British Columbia since 1965,[3] Heed graduated from the B.C. Police Academy in 1979 and began his career as an officer with the VPD. As an inspector he was commander of District 3, which corresponds to the southeast quadrant of Vancouver; he was in charge of the south part of Vancouver after becoming superintendent. 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.[4]
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.[2] He led the West Vancouver Police Department for 19 months before resigning on February 23, 2009.[5] During his time as Chief Constable, Heed advocated the creation of a regional police force to fight gang crime.[6]
He is a published author who also teaches criminology and criminal justice at two B.C. colleges.
Heed resigned his ministerial post on April 9, 2010 in response to an unspecified Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigation regarding violations of the Elections Act involving his campaign office, becoming the third consecutive solicitor-general to step down in a 25-month period.[12][13][14] The investigation revealed that his campaign team distributed unregistered brochures targeting the NDP, but special prosecutor Terry Robertson exonerated Heed of involvement, and he returned to cabinet on May 4, 2010.[12][15] 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.[12][15]
The distribution of the unregistered brochures brought Heed's campaign above the spending limit; he admitted to exceeding the limit by $5,579, but denied knowing of it at the time. The court revised the overspent amount to $4,000, and Heed was fined $8,000 (twice the overspend), but was allowed to keep his seat in the legislature and cleared of criminal wrongdoing.[16] He did not run for re-election in 2013.[17]
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; he left the station in February 2017.[18][19]
Heed was critical of the handling of the escape of Robbie Alkhalil from the North Fraser Pretrial Centre, 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."[20]
Municipal politics
Heed announced in August 2022 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.[21] On October 15, 2022, Heed was elected to council, taking the last of eight seats.[22]
In February 2024, Heed put forth a motion alongside Councillor Laura Gillanders to consider implementing a supervised consumption site at Richmond Hospital. The proposal drew backlash from the community, with over 16,000 signing a petition against the construction of a consumption site.[23] The motion passed by a margin of 7–2;[24] however, Mayor Malcolm Brodie said that the city would not seek approval for a site.[25]
