When the Odd Squad needed a sleuth to locate missing funds, they knew exactly who to call.

Detective Frank Drebin.

In real life, Drebin, the hero of the Naked Gun movies, is none other than Canadian-born comic actor Leslie Nielsen.

And the Odd Squad is actually Odd Squad Productions, a non-profit society comprised of Vancouver police officers who give reel life - through documentary films and educational videos - to the unimaginable stories of drug addicts on Vancouver's Downtown East Side. The shows, which are shot by officers on their own time, are designed to help kids avoid using drugs.

Bayne Stanley, Business Edge
Actor Leslie Nielsen and fundraising event co-ordinator Diana Zoppa take aim at drug problem.

Last week, Nielsen co-hosted a fundraising dinner for Odd Squad at the Sheraton Wall Centre Hotel. With Nielsen's help and support from the business community, Odd Squad will make the dinner an annual event and use proceeds to purchase more modern cameras and production equipment and expand its operations.

"It's amazing because they have this program that they've done and put together and it's received acclaim all over the world and they don't seem to know what they're doing," says Nielsen. "That's quite wonderful, that you're doing something that's a labour of love, and you're not doing it to receive any significance for yourself - or fame or money."

Odd Squad is seeking funds for its daily operations and $300,000 to $500,000 to shoot a sequel to its 1999 documentary Through a Blue Lens, which is intended for theatrical release. The film, or segments of it, will also be used in drug-education seminars in schools and with community groups. The new documentary, Beyond a Blue Lens, will catch up with people whose stories were told in the original film.

Nielsen, who donated his services for the fundraiser, says the business community has jumped on Odd Squad's bandwagon. The officers are determined to complete the sequel any way they can.

"There are no Babe Ruths in this," says Nielsen. "You just go ahead and do it because that's what you want to do. Otherwise, it won't get done, if you have to look for money or whatever it might be from the outside. You really have to be your own boss and be able to go ahead and shoot whatever is in your soul and put it together."

Nielsen hooked up with Odd Squad after getting a call from old friend and business partner Ken Jubenvill of Kelowna, a veteran TV and movie producer and director who has worked on such series as The Beachcombers, Lonesome Dove, North of 60 and Airwolf. Jubenvill will help produce and direct the sequel.

Nielsen says he will help with the sequel if asked, but the movie and TV industry veteran won't offer any tips on production techniques.

"Listen, I would not be in a position to give any advice," says Nielsen. "They are doing something that is very much a part of them. They know what they're doing. There's no way you can intrude on that, because the concept is theirs. I might be more inclined to work to pay for the rent. They don't seem to care about that.

"Of course, they're not dummies. They do care (about costs). Their reason for doing it? I can't figure out what that is, quite frankly, other than it comes from their heart."

In addition to portraying officers on movie and TV screens, the Regina native, who now lives in Arizona, has family ties to police.

His father was a Mountie and his brother Gordon was a Vancouver motorcycle cop in the 1950s. His brother Erik, now a Kelowna resident, was a former federal Progressive Conservative cabinet member in the Joe Clark and Brian Mulroney PC governments and briefly was the political head of the RCMP. Nielsen also has a niece who is with the RCMP.

Nielsen and Jubenvill are also planning to produce a series on the history of the RCMP for the CBC and another documentary, entitled Doctorology, on "the serious side of medicine and perhaps a little sugar-coated by dumb and stupid Leslie Nielsen.”

He also plans to star in a comedy feature about "beautiful people meaning mainly beautiful girls - if my wife will permit me to look at beautiful girls," similar to the old Fantasy Island TV show.

"It's going to be shot in Hawaii and, boy, I'm ready," grins Nielsen.

The 79-year-old says he won't be ready to retire until doctors pronounce that he can't sit up in bed anymore. Odd Squad is quite happy that he's still working.

"We just saw (Nielsen) as a natural fit," says Diana Zoppa, the fundraising event's co-ordinator. "He was one of our first targets, and he came on board right away ... He's stated that he's very much committed to (Odd Squad) - forever, kind of thing."

Zoppa, president of FunRaiser Events and Management Ltd., which serves as the Wall Centre's corporate community liaison, says the fundraiser was designed to help business leaders re-connect with Odd Squad after a similar event five years ago raised $75,000.

"This event is springboarding (Odd Squad) back into the public eye," she says.

The Wall Centre provided $50,000 worth of in-kind donations while Harmony Airways, Telus, HSBC and Boston Pizza also made contributions. Zoppa, 45, the mother of a six-year-old son, says businesses have been supportive because every parent realizes drug abuse occurs in all neighbourhoods and more sophisticated narcotics are becoming more damaging.

"People are responding because it's not really a sales pitch - it's a partnership," says Zoppa.

Odd Squad founder Sgt. Toby Hinton, who now serves as a director with the organization, says the group wants to ensure it can continue operating after the founders move on to other policing duties or retirement or other personal situations.

Odd Squad's officers shoot films in plain clothes, mostly on their own time. But the police department does utilize Odd Squad's services on a volunteer basis for some in-house work, such as a recent video on speeding.

"Part of our planned growth and development is we're a non-profit society, so we're not driven by the desire to make money with Odd Squad," says Hinton, who became a police officer since 1989 and has spent much of his career on the Downtown East Side.

"What's most important to me is to leave a decent legacy and not incur a whole pile of debt while we do it."

In addition to revenue from the fundraising dinner, Odd Squad will receive $30,000 in each of the next three years from the BC Technology Social Ventures Partners (BCTSVP), a charitable foundation whose members are based in the tech industry.

BCTSVP provides financial support for non-profit groups that serve women, children and other people at risk on the Downtown East Side and in the inner city.

Odd Squad's immediate plan is to use some funds to buy new digital camera and editing equipment.

The group will also put proceeds toward its $46,661 Tinseltown office budget, which includes the salary of an office administrator, after operating on just $10,000 last year. The group also hopes to get sponsorships that will enable members to meet requests to put on educational events across Canada, including the Northwest Territories.

"We get these requests from all over, so we're looking at leaning on some people or organizations or agencies from the business sector that are interested in helping out," says Hinton.

Hinton says Downtown Eastsiders are receptive to officers, who are familiar faces in the area, filming their activities and telling their stories.

"Most of them don't want young people slipping into their hellish existence," says Hinton.

(Monte Stewart can be reached at monte@businessedge.ca)