Every work day is a little different for New West bylaw officer John Doebert, but some days definitely stand out from the rest.
Doebert was driving along East Sixth Avenue next to the fire hall one day last year when he noticed a young girl decked out in head to toe pink next to the busy road. Looking to see if she was being accompanied by an adult, he realized she was all on her own and decided he needed to make sure she was safe.
“Just as I pulled over, she ran across two lanes of traffic over to Queen’s Park,” he recalled. “She wasn’t even running in the crosswalk. She had just bolted from one side of the street to another.”
Concerned for the girl’s well-being, Doebert did a U-turn on Sixth Avenue and turned right onto McBride Boulevard, where the girl was running alongside the major thoroughfare at the bottom of Queen’s Park.
“She was like a Jack Russel on steroids,” he said. “She was really running – fast.”
Doebert, who has been enforcing the city’s street and traffic bylaws for 20 years, pulled up alongside the girl.
“When I caught up with her, she was a quarter of the way down McBride and she was looking to cross in the middle of nowhere – four lanes of traffic,” he said. “I thought, ‘This is not going to happen.’”
Doebert put on the flashing lights of his city vehicle and approached the youngster – taking care not to scare her. He learned that Caroline, who turned out to be just five years old, had told her teacher that she wasn’t feeling well, but, instead of going to the office so they could contact her mom, she headed home.
Doebert contacted his supervisor and told her he had found a young child on her own and was taking her to her home at Victoria Hill. When no one was home at Caroline’s house, he spoke with a neighbour who knew Caroline and her family and, after ensuring everything was legit, allowed her to take Caroline back to school.
“The school got a hold of the parents. It all worked out. I happened to be in the right place at the right time,” he said. “The parents wrote me a nice thank-you letter.”
That letter eventually made its way to the Licence Inspectors and Bylaw Officers Association of B.C., which named Doebert its Bylaw Officer of the Year at its recent conference. Doebert was shocked when he received the award.
“I am just glad that Caroline got home safe,” he said. “It was never about getting an award. It was nice that I got it, but it was about getting Caroline home.”
A father of two and a grandfather of five, Doebert said he sensed something was amiss when he spotted the youngster.
“Once I saw there was no parent, I was worried. You could just tell by the look on her face that she was up to something,” he said. “I thought I better be safe than sorry. I would think this is one of the busiest roads in the city.”
New Westminster city council will acknowledge Doebert’s action and award at its July 9 meeting.
“Staff often go unrecognized for the great work they do every day, so we were delighted when we heard John was awarded Bylaw Officer of the Year and received the recognition he was due,” said Dave Cole, the city’s manager of engineering operations. “John’s good judgement, intuition and street-wise experience helped him identify the potential of this situation and brought about a safe and successful outcome for this family.”
