New sergeant on the block at St. Paul RCMP
Police officer Wade Trottier has held many roles in law enforcement since he was 19 years old. He’s been a park ranger, a municipal enforcement officer and has worked in the major crime unit. As of a few weeks ago, Trottier became the new Staff Sergeant at St. Paul RCMP.
Trottier officially replaced Bob Batchelor on Feb. 6 as Staff Sergeant and although he admits the workload has been strenuous for the first few weeks, the job is something he has experience with.
“It’s a different job, but I’ve done this before … I was in charge of the detachment in Fort Vermilion,” Trottier said. “I was very interested in the opportunity when it came up.”
Prior to taking the new position, the native of Medicine Hat worked upstairs in St. Paul RCMP’s major crime unit, which is dedicated to investigating homicides in the rural areas and outlying communities.
“The first week was literally a write off so I’m just getting engaged in a few things. I have to get the lay of the land,” he said. “My understanding coming into the position is things are running well. In term of setting priorities, I need to talk to the communities of Goodfish, Saddle Lake and St. Paul to get a grasp of it.”
One event that consumed some of Trottier’s time was the shootout between two RCMP officers and a man at a farm southeast of Killam two weeks ago. Both officers were shot and admitted to hospital while the owner of the rural property, Brad Clark, died of a gunshot wound at the scene.
“I was down there to assist one night,” he said, regarding the Canada-wide search warrant for Clarke’s nephew, Sawyer.
Trottier said this kind of situation is one no officer wants to see, but it’s something that needs to be dealt with properly. His time spent as a Municipal Enforcement Officer in the Northwest Territories prepared him for such events and is what led him to where he is now.
“I rode around a lot with a few members and got to know them really well,” he said. “Seeing them do their day-to-day work I got a taste of everything. It wasn’t just that I got to go to the exciting calls but also dealing with the paperwork, with the process of prisoners and those types of things.
“I grew to admire them and what they were doing so I started seeing what the whole job was about,” he added.
The main principle for doing this job, according to Trottier, is public service, helping people and understanding the idealism behind this type of work.
“There may be varying degrees and varying princitples of it, but I do think that underlies everything,” he said. “I think if you view police work and life in the RCMP as just a job there’s enough detriments or detractors that would quickly cause you to be dissatisfied.
“You have to have that base to begin with,” he continued.
“You’ve got to believe in what you’re doing and why you’re doing it … that moral core and those values and doing this job is an extension of that. I think that’s definitely shared here among the other members.”
The small town life of St. Paul is what has kept Trottier here. He added that his wife and two kids are happy and would like to remain here.
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