THUNDER BAY — Stephanie Nordlund, who worked with a municipal mental health and crisis unit, is hoping to bring that experience to her new role as a police officer with the Thunder Bay Police Service.
“I was actually on the Impact Unit,” Nordlund said. “I did that for about a year-and-a-half and I loved that job and wanted to be able to do more and get more involved.”
Nordlund was one of four cadets sworn in as constables with the Thunder Bay Police Service during a ceremony before Justice Frank Valente at the Thunder Bay Courthouse. Also joining TBPS are Ross Tansey, Johnathan-Dylan Samas and Michael Boyechko.
It's the first swearing-in ceremony for new Police Chief Darcy Fleury, who officially took on the role in May.
Fleury said when he first arrived, the group of cadets were just preparing to leave for police college.
“To see them all the way through the process and to go down on their graduation day and to finalize it through the ceremony feels really good,” Fleury said. “They are excited to be here and we are happy to have them and we are looking forward to see how they do in their careers.”
Fleury told the new officers they will have good days and bad days, but every day will be an important learning experience.
“I think the message overall and we will reinforce it as we go along is that they are going to have days where it is not going to be so easy and they are going to have days that are going to be fantastic,” he said. “Each one of those days brings experiences and memories and I think the embrace those and learn from what they experienced.”
Nordlund said she is planning to bring her past experience in the mental health and crisis field to her work as a police officer in the city.
“Now I will be able to use the experience and knowledge I gained from that and use it in all of the calls for service that we will get dispatched to and have that experience when dealing with the public,” she said.
“A police officer has an important role serving the public and responding to calls for service and helping the public in any situation the public needs.”
The police service has struggled with recruitment in recent years and Fleury said he will be looking at new strategies for getting more front-line officers on city streets.
“We do have a multi-year plan for where we want to go, including the expansion of the department. Right now we are doing a little restructuring as far as the corporate end of things,” Fleury said.
“And down the road we are looking at more boots on the ground and how that will look and really putting emphasis on, we have some major enforcement issues we need to work toward, and making sure we have the resources to do that.”
