They’re young, keen and ready to hit the road.
The New Westminster Police Department welcomed its newest batch of constables last week, adding another three officers to its ranks.
The new officers come from a variety of backgrounds. They grew up in different cities, took different education paths, have different interests, but one thing they do have in common is they all wanted to be cops.
“It was always something I’ve wanted to do since I was really, really young. It was just a matter of pursuing it until I achieved it,” Andrew Ravenhill told the Record.
Ravenhill, 24, is from Victoria. He was a reserve constable for the Victoria Police Department, and he also volunteered with a local homeless shelter. He graduated from the University of Victoria with an arts degree in history and business, and spent much of his youth playing soccer, which is how he got to know some of the officers from New Westminster.
Chanel Chersak also knew from a young age she wanted to be a police officer – both her parents were RCMP officers. (Her father is retired, and her mom is still working.)
“That was kind of my introduction to the policing world. I know it’s challenging, in the sense that you’re not going to be there for a lot of family events and holidays and birthdays, but at the same time my parents seemed to have enjoyed their jobs, and it was a good stable career,” she said.
Chersak, who is from North Vancouver, applied to several police departments, but she felt New Westminster was the right fit. Plus, as a graduate of the law enforcement program at the Justice Institute, she already felt quite at home in the Royal City.
Alina Baugh-Allen had a similar answer when asked why she chose New Westminster. The 33-year-old spent two years at Douglas College before transferring to SFU to complete her arts degree in criminology. After school, she went to work for B.C. Corrections where she’s worked for the past six years.
“New Westminster’s always had a good reputation both for job satisfaction in the department and also community satisfaction for service,” she said. “I also like the size of the department. They treat their employees well.”
The recruits spent last week going through orientation at the department headquarters before heading into their first block of training at the Justice Institute of B.C. They’ll hit the roads for the first time shortly before the new year.
