Inspector Harley Bryson of the Brandon Police Service may have helped to create the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, but he hasn’t seen much of them.

In fact, if it weren’t for people like Bryson, the Games might not be running as smoothly as they are, yet the 35-year police vet has likely seen less of the Games than somebody sitting in their easy chair in Brandon.

“The closest I got to an event was the other day when I saw the crowd from behind the stands at the curling venue, but I never saw the ice,” said Bryson, who has been on loan to the Olympic Games for the past 18 months — since September of 2008. “My accreditation only takes me as far as the background areas.”

“I’ve been in all the venues at one time or another, but not when they were actually operating.”

During a mid-shift phone interview from Vancouver last Thursday, Bryson said he is grateful for the “opportunity and the adventure” the Games have provided. His job has been to serve as a “middle man” between the planners and technicians. In the months leading up to the Games, Bryson did a lot of work with network cabling and portable radios. “They needed a guy with investigative experience,” and the information he gathered was then turned over to the planners.

“My work was pretty hectic until the Games actually started,” he said. “On Friday, the first day of the Games, my emails all of a sudden started to dwindle.”

The planning part is over, he said. “Now it’s maintenance from a police perspective.” When the Games conclude, he’ll be part of the decommissioning crew — pulling out the radios, taking down the audio-visual equipment and packing up the computers.

Bryson won’t be back to Brandon from the West Coast until the end of March, when the Paralympic Games conclude (March 21), at which time he will be officially retiring from the Police Service. “It’s good for the city to get some of the old wood out,” he said with a laugh.

He answered the call from the Olympic Games in 2008, figuring that with his two sons grown up and on their own, and his police career winding down, it would be a great way to slide into semi-retirement. He has still been receiving his regular pay from the BPS, but the city then bills the RCMP for his services. His shifts have been relatively steady — two 12-hour days, two 12-hour evenings, and then two days off. He negotiated four return trips to Brandon to see his wife Colleen — Christmas of 2008 and 2009, as well as a few days in each of spring and fall of 2009.

Bryson rented a little apartment when he moved to Vancouver and he said he enjoyed the daily 12-minute walks to work. “I work in a building with 500 people,” he said. “Some of them drive two hours in the morning to get there and then have to drive two hours to get home. I walk, so it’s definitely a healthier lifestyle.”

All that walking allowed Bryson to lose about 25 pounds, but he said he’s starting to gain a little of it back.

“I’m glad I came out here,” he said. “I’ve done lots of curling. I think I’ve played in most curling clubs in Vancouver.”

He’s also had the chance to do quite a bit of biking on his Harley Davidson 2007 Heritage Soft Tail classic, including a 12-day junket to Laughlin, Nev., with a fellow police officer for an event similar to the major bikers’ event held annually in Sturgis, S.D.

While the 18-month stint in Vancouver has been a trip he’ll never forget, or regret, he’ll be glad to get back to Brandon. “I’m a prairie boy,” he said. “I won’t miss the traffic. I don’t need to sit in traffic for an hour. And I’d like to see blue sky and sunshine once in a while. It’s been raining here almost steady since the third week of October.”

Meanwhile, Bryson can’t take credit for it, but reported crime in Vancouver is down 40 per cent since the Games began. If that’s not the cherry on top for a police officer, nothing is.