***Original published in South Mountain Press, December 21, 2018***
A RCMP Christmas
While most families will be enjoying themselves opening presents with the kids, visiting with relatives, and enjoying Christmas festive meals, many professions such as your local RCMP detachment will be running normal operations on Christmas Day.
Acting Corporal Paul Morissette of Elphinstone Detachment and Staff Sergeant Dave Porter of Shoal Lake Detachment kindly shared their experience when it comes to RCMP members celebrating Christmas.
Q. What is your police force history and how often have you worked Christmas Day?
A. A/Cpl Morissette has been a member of the RCMP since June, 2006 and over that time period has had approximately five Christmases off, three of which he took vacation time. S/Sgt Porter is a 31 year veteran of the force and has worked the majority of Christmas days.
Q. Many RCMP members are posted in from other provinces. How often do they get home for Christmas?
A. S/Sgt Porter is originally from New Brunswick and has not been back home for Christmas since 2012. Unlike the military which provides Christmas flights and monetary compensation for service members to visit next of kin, the RCMP does not provide any special compensation for Christmas travel back home. The time and expense of returning to the Maritimes with his wife and three kids has limited the S/Sgt’s Christmas visits.
Q. If you work Christmas, do you get New Year’s off or what sort of rotation happens?
A. If you work Christmas you may have News Year’s off, it depends on where your rotation on the schedule falls. This year A/Cpl Morissette has Christmas and New Year’s off. He believes that is only the second time in his career that it has worked out this way. They are currently on a rotation of five shifts on, and three days off over a nine week schedule. Over at the Shoal Lake Detachment, they are doing a seven on/seven off schedule that doesn’t change because of holidays.
Q. For the officers with children, especially young ones, how do you celebrate the day?
A. If you are scheduled to work on Christmas you are put on call, so that you can spend time with your family members. For those members that are single and who do not have family in the area, a fellow member will invite them into their home so that they are not alone over Christmas. Also, most single members are good for volunteering for a shift swap so that those officers with young families can be together.
Q. What sort of shift do you do for Christmas Day?
A. Our scheduled shifts don’t change over Christmas. We attend to calls for service as required. As a senior member, S/Sgt Porter will be available on call.
Q. Although a serious incident could happen at any time, how busy is the day for call outs and what are the normal incidents that you expect to see?
A. It is rare that we receive many calls on Christmas day, as most people are celebrating with loved ones. On a few occasions the detachments have responded to motor vehicle collisions, stranded motorists, and even domestic assaults when the subjects of complaint have had too many celebratory beverages.
Q. Is there anything special that you do at the station or in the community on the 25th?
A. There is nothing special that we do on the 25th at the station. Some of the members have attended a local Christmas supper, whether they are on or off duty.
Q. What is the size of the Xmas crew, does staffing change for the day?
A. Normally we have a skeleton crew on Christmas day, with our minimums as per our unit policy allows. If required there is usually additional members in the area that could be called out to assist if a major incident were to occur.
S/Sgt Porter would like to remind motorists to have alternate plans in place while they are celebrating the holiday season after enjoying alcoholic beverages or marijuana. The Holiday Checkstop Program will be running throughout the province checking for impaired drivers.
New as of December 18, a new Federal law comes into force which allows police to demand a breath sample from any driver they lawfully stop — not just if they suspect a driver has been drinking. In addition, although the Yellowhead detachments are still in the process of acquiring and implementing devices and training for marijuana use detection, they are still able to determine is a driver is drug impaired.
So while you are enjoying your presents and Christmas meals, give a little thanks to the dedicated professionals who are serving your community and helping to keep us all safe. Grandma won’t have to worry about help arriving if she gets run over by a reindeer.
Blair is a personification of a ‘Jack of All Trades and Master of None’. He has held several careers and has all the T-shirts. Time to add the title Blogger to the list.