THUNDER BAY - When a teenage girl in the city woke up in an unfamiliar park without knowing how long she had been in the freezing temperatures and called 911, the dispatcher, Megan Petzel, had to use some outside of the box thinking to help officers locate her when she stopped responding.
“We had to stay on the phone with her to try and determine where she was,” Petzel said. “While we were on the phone with her she had another seizure, so we didn’t have any other communication with her, so we used our tools and communication. We used the sirens on the cars to determine who was closest to her and we were able to locate her using that.”
Petzel’s actions helped save the girl’s life and to honour her work, the Police Association of Ontario presented her with the 2022 On-Duty Difference Maker – Civilian Police Service Employee Award during a ceremony on Tuesday.
This is the first time a member of the Thunder Bay Police Association has received this award, which has been presented by the Police Association of Ontario for the last seven years.
There were more than 300 nominees from across the province and Mark Baxter, president of the Police Association of Ontario said Petzel’s actions really stood out this year.
“That was just incredible, outside the box thinking that really struck me and our committee as well,” he said of Petzel utilizing the sirens over the open phone line to direct officers to the girl.
Three awards are handed out annually by the Police Association of Ontario for community role models and difference makers for both civilian and sworn members.
“It’s really important for us to highlight the incredible work that men and women of our police services do every day,” Baxter said, adding that it is important to also highlight the work of civilian members who are the backbone of every police service.
“Our police services don’t function without civilian members,” he said. “They work in our communications centres, as special constables, in record departments, court departments. Civilian members are the engine that keep police services going.”
Thunder Bay Police Association president Colin Woods said it is a huge honour for all members to see a colleague be nominated and receive the award.
Woods added that it is especially significant to see a civilian member be recognized, because even though they operate behind the scenes, they play a very key role in community policing.
“They are the faces nobody sees, but they make our place run as smoothly as it does,” he said. “They are the ones telling us where we are going, what we are doing, who we are dealing with. They are our eyes and ears. Without them we wouldn’t be able to do the jobs we do.”
“It’s huge for us. For all of us. It’s a very important award to be recognized for what we do every day,” Petzel added. “People don’t even really know sometimes that we exist. They expect us to be there to answer the phone but they don’t know what our job entails and what we do. So this is huge for all of them.”
Petzel, who has been a communications supervisor with the Thunder Bay Police Service for 15 years, said the 911 call with the teenage girl is unfortunately not unusual and dispatchers deal with calls like it every day.
And while this call had a happy ending thanks to the quick thinking of those involved, Petzel recalled holding her breath until she knew the girl was safe, highlighting how difficult the work can be and the dedication of all those involved.
“When I heard those voices and one of the officers here today running and I knew they were close, when they actually got to her and said: ‘I got you girl’ and I could hear they were with her, I didn’t even realize I was holding my breath the entire conversation I was having with her,” Petzel said. “It was like I just took a deep breath and thought she is going to be okay. It was a huge relief.”
