He would have made an ideal officer

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Bradley Jackson Lelliott (FAMILY PHOTO)

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Bradley Lelliott receives graduation certificate. (HANDOUT PHOTO)

WINNIPEG — Today, 42 new Winnipeg Police Service recruits will celebrate their graduation. However, the man they voted as their ideal officer won't be there.

Bradley Jackson Lelliott, 35, died last Wednesday of pancreatic cancer after a lifetime of dreaming of becoming a police officer.

While in training last December, the recruit learned he had a heart condition and would not be able to be a constable with the Winnipeg Police Service. The next blow came in February when he was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer and had only a short time to live.

Lelliott, heralded by his family as a father who spent years at home raising his kids, died knowing, however, he was a hero to his fellow recruits and officers across the city.

On March 16, as his health deteriorated and with his classmates on hand, he attended a special ceremony at the legislature to mark his graduation.

His father, retired officer Russell Lelliott, and Chief Keith McCaskill were also present to give a gently smiling Bradley his graduation certificate. Also there were the three boys he stayed at home for four years to raise before entering the police academy in 2008.

The private ceremony -- which recruits attended in full dress uniform -- was hastily organized to honour a man who his wife said would have been a "huge asset" to the WPS.

Tracy Lelliott said she does not want to be called a widow.

"It was a happy day. There were lots of tears, but they were happy tears... I don't even have the words to describe what it meant to Brad and Brad's family," said Tracy, who describes herself and her family as intensely private. "(Bradley) was a man that deserved to have a portion of his story told. He put everybody first, including his own dream of becoming a policeman when he stayed home and raised his kids."

Tracy said she and her husband decided before his death they didn't want media attention on their private family life. However, she said, they had a discussion on what they would say if the subject came up after Bradley died, which prompted her to sit down with the Free Press.

She said the family was "overwhelmed" by the support shown by the WPS, and she wanted to thank them.

"When they were presented with a family that was going through an impossible situation, they made it a little bit easier," said Tracy, pausing to wipe tears from her eyes.

"Actually, they made it a lot easier... they supported us in every way they could."

About three weeks ago, her husband dropped in to visit his recruit class. They had just gone for field training. At the time, he was on a special assignment the police service arranged for him due to his health restrictions.

At the class, Bradley received the Don Gove Memorial Trophy -- an award voted on by the recruits and instructors in recognition of the individual who was viewed as the most ideal police officer -- from McCaskill.

His classmates cheered him on.

Tracy said police are confronted with "impossible situations" on an everyday basis. Her husband, she said, wanted to make a difference in his work.

"I don't think (police) get an opportunity to shine in the public eye too often," she said, describing why she consented to an interview.

"They're scrutinized. They're criticized. They're not necessarily looked at in the finest of eyes."

Nevertheless, Tracy said her husband wanted to work in street-level policing. "It was the work he felt defined him," Tracy said. "It was something he knew he would have made a difference at."

His name will live on in an event called Brothers in Blue for Brad, an upcoming endurance race across Manitoba by eight WPS officers to raise money for cancer.

A celebration of Bradley's life takes place at 11 a.m., Monday, May 25 at Westwood Community Church, 401 Westwood Dr.

gabrielle.giroday@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 22, 2009 A5