Skip to content

New EPS officer will reach out to community

The Estevan Police Service is continuing with its efforts to reach out to the community, with the hiring of Monica Rae as the new community programming officer. Rae’s first day on the job was Tuesday.
Monica Rae
Community programming officer Monica Rae

The Estevan Police Service is continuing with its efforts to reach out to the community, with the hiring of Monica Rae as the new community programming officer.

Rae’s first day on the job was Tuesday. A Carnduff resident with a background in social work, her duties will include reaching out to school students, senior citizens, newcomers and others in the community.

“It just sounded challenging and exciting, and an opportunity to forge some relationships and work in a positive atmosphere,” she told Lifestyles. “That was intriguing to me.”

She believes the elements of building relationships and working with children and youth aligned with her past experience, which included work with at-risk young people.

“I think that aligns itself with the focus on crime prevention and intervention within our city, and developing relationships with community partners,” said Rae.

Her first day proved to be overwhelming and exciting, she said. Rae spent the day with Const. Braden Lonsberry, who has worked in a similar position before as the EPS’s school liaison officer.

He took her to a few different places in town, including a couple of schools and senior citizens homes, as well as the Southeast Newcomer Services office. It helped her meet some of the people in those organizations, and get to know the city in general.

As the community programming officer, the main focus will be education and prevention, according to Police Chief Paul Ladouceur. He believes it’s a good year to bring in the position because of the recent legalization of cannabis.

“There’s no better place to start than education when it comes to drugs, with youth, and … impaired by drug driving.”

The EPS has partnered with the Weyburn Police Service, the RCMP, the Saskatchewan Health Authority and Southeast Regional Victim Services, and are in the early stages of a presentation.

“The idea and the approach is that Monica is going to be co-ordinating that, and finally we’re going to see the same program taught the same way throughout all the schools, whether it be Weyburn or Estevan,” said Ladouceur.

Law enforcement agencies had a similar program in the 2018-19 school year regarding sexting.

Rae is looking forward to working with young people, because she has been away from that part of social work for a number of years, and she is looking forward to the presentations, because those will be a new challenge for her.

“I’m looking forward to being back in a professional setting and working with supportive and positive people,” she said.

Her work also involves other at-risk groups, such as senior citizens who are a target of scams on a daily basis.

“We are the ones dealing with these elderly people who are often giving up their life savings or their retirement savings to these fraudsters,” said Ladouceur.

Rae will also be tasked with informing newcomers about what police in Canada are all about, and that they can be trusted.

“Over and above the education and prevention component is the education component, and I think it’s so important for police organizations to be so connected to the community that they serve to build that level of trust,” said Ladouceur.

That community engagement has played a big role in the reduction in crime rates in Estevan in the last few years. People trust the police, he said, and they believe the police will follow up on their calls.

Rae’s hiring represents a departure for the EPS with how they have handled the community officer position. Traditionally the officer who held the position has been an EPS constable who has worked in the schools.

But now the EPS has hired a civilian for the role. She will have a uniform with a golf shirt with the EPS crest on it as part of her uniform. She will also have a vehicle that identifies her as the community program officer.

Ladouceur noted it’s a repurposed vehicle, rather that a new purchase.

“It’s really important for Monica to be out there in the community as much as possible. I really am excited to see how 2019 unfolds.”

There are programs that the EPS wants to bring back, but hasn’t been able to, but now they can after hiring Rae. These include the youth nights that were offered last fall and were well received, the police half-marathon that took place in 2015 and 2016 and requires a lot of organization, and the open houses that have been well-attended.

“Monica’s also going to be heavily involved with our social media, looking at our website and Twitter and things like that, and keeping the public informed on various safety concerns,” the police chief said.

He expects her arrival will increase the EPS capacity within the schools and to educate and prevent crimes in the community.