Winkler Police Service makes history by hiring female officers

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This article was published 09/07/2017 (3386 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For the first time in its 101-year history, the Winkler Police Service is hiring female police officers.

Two Manitoba women, Kendra Derksen of Winkler and Megan Fallis of Warren, will join the force in December. Winkler police Chief Rick Hiebert considers the addition of female officers “long overdue.”

He said the force has been actively searching for female officers for the past 15 years. While some women applied, they either didn’t pass the written exam, physical test, or interview stage, Hiebert said.

He didn’t know the number of females applicants, but said it wasn’t many.

In the most recent hiring process, Winkler had more than 40 applications and a handful were females. The force hired three candidates: Derksen and Fallis and one man.

The Altona Police Service, which has never had a woman as one of its eight officers, has also had few female applicants. The only woman on the team is Ev Kehler, a special constable who was sworn in by the city but doesn’t carry a gun or Taser. She does administrative duties and basic police work.

Even with Winkler’s addition of two female officers, the rate of women in rural police forces (excluding RCMP) falls short of Winnipeg’s, which is still low. Women make up about 13 per cent of the municipal police services in Rivers, St. Anne, Morden, Winkler and Altona.

In Winnipeg, 228 women serve on a force of 1,438, about 16 per cent.

Derksen and Fallis aren’t slated to begin field work right away. They start recruit training at the Saskatchewan Police College in Regina July 31. After 4/12 months, they will return to Winkler for field training before they’ll be scheduled for regular shiftwork.

The two women say they aren’t concerned about being the only females in a male-dominated station. Instead, they say they’re excited to be making history.

They have met some of their future colleagues and both say they expect to settle right in.

Hiebert speculated it’ll be easier for two women to work at the station together than one by herself.

Neither the women nor Hiebert have any theories about why fewer women get into policing.

Derksen said she has always been interested in police work.

“About two and a half years ago, I started doing some fitness training to prepare for when they were going to be hiring. I’ve lived here all my life so it’s a nice way to give back to the community,”

Fallis, a social worker, explored policing because she felt something was missing in her job.

“I’m an active person, so having a more active job, plus not exactly knowing what I’m walking into each day, was really appealing to me,” she said.

stefanie.lasuik@freepress.mb.ca