What initially made you want to be a police officer?My best friend’s dad was a police officer, and I was inspired by him. I grew up in Newfoundland, Canada.How does the police department there compare to what’s here? Is it bigger?No, I come from a town of 3,000 people. It is policed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Policing is a lot similar there to here. I have often said [where I come from] is similar to Bermuda except there we don’t have palms. We do have codfish breakfasts. There are a lot of similarities, I guess because Newfoundland and Bermuda are both islands. I have been here 17 years. It is just home. I started out as a maitre d’ at the Palmetto Hotel, but this was where my heart was at.When you told your family you wanted to be a police officer were they happy about it?They were a bit apprehensive, obviously. They see the crime on television, so they are always apprehensive about what policing is about. When they visited Bermuda and saw how nice it was they were fine. They are quite proud. There are seven of us in our family. All of us have a military background so we are all in that regimented field.How has the journey been in the Bermuda Police Service? Has it been a clear straight path to Inspector?I don’t think there have been any hiccups for me going where I wanted to go. I knew what path I wanted to take. I became a Constable when I joined, and within four years I took my Sergeant’s exam. I felt before I reached any other aspirations I needed to grasp the role of Sergeant. I said I would give myself five years. I was actually a Sergeant for six years before I took the exam. I think it has been quite inviting actually, for females to move up in the organisation.Are there many women in the Police Service?There are a few. I was in the training school for four years. I have actually trained a lot of recruits in the last four years. There are a lot of females, but for some reason they just stay at Constable rank. I don’t know if it is the comfort. I can’t answer for them. Maybe they have kids and a family life and it suits them better. Obviously, with higher ranks comes more responsibility. I don’t have any kids so it is easier to take on the responsibility.How do women handle the physical challenges? Do you take martial arts.No, I just train on a regular basis. I have my own exercise regime. I make sure I follow it everyday in order to keep up. I just run and I go in the gym. I also have a bike set up in my house.How important is physical fitness?It is very important. You can’t compete out there if you are not physically fit. For me, being a female, it is very important to be fit. I have to keep up.If you are arresting someone do they give you a harder time?No, it is quite the opposite. I think they [the men we arrest] are softer towards females. I think they are thinking, ‘what would my mother say if I was nasty to a female’? That is my opinion. I have never had any problems.Television programmes like ‘Law and Order’ and ‘Cops’ make it seem very exciting. Is it really like that?I think it is what you put into it. What you put into it is what you get back out of it. I am 12 years into it on February 1 and I love my job. No matter if it was at Constable or Sergeant’s level or the level I am in now, it is what I put into it. As for exciting, sure. Everyday is different. You are never going to deal with the same thing twice. Every time you go out there you are dealing with something different. I don’t know if I would call that exciting. I think I would call it challenging. Television hypes up policing. It is not quite like the television programme ‘CSI: Crime Scene Investigation’. Everyone talks about CSI, but I tell them not to follow it because we are not quite there yet. Their technology is fantastic.Do you think that crime is rising? It seems that way to the public.It is a challenging job and last year was quite the challenge for Bermuda as a whole, not just for the police force. My perception is the same as the public perception. I can only go by what the public is seeing. Is it on the rise? I don’t have statistics so I can’t really answer that question.Do you feel like you have to prove yourself with your male colleagues?No. Obviously, men do outnumber the females in the organisation. It is just a matter of putting yourself forward and not being afraid to take on any challenge that the Service has to offer whether you are male or female. I don’t think it really matters. I have been treated equally my whole career. I have not had any problems. I would not be able to say that it is a man’s world out there, because I don’t believe it is.Do you have any hobbies outside of the police?I golf. I am actually chairman of the Bermuda police golf section. I have broken that glass ceiling. (Laughter). I have been chairman for two years. We have an annual general meeting coming out next week. I am pretty confident I will still be chairman, but I don’t know for sure.What is your handicap?I am a 15, which is about average. We golf once a month as recreation and the Police Service is quite supportive of it. They are quite supportive of the officers being involved in any sport. They actually encourage it. I don’t know if you were here for Police Week. We had a sports day at that time. The whole week was fantastic. I took part in the sports day, because I was off. It was so well organised and so well supported by upper management. They really support us having some extracurricular activities. Some of them are even involved with us and play the sport with us which is great to see.A lot of people are talking about unemployment in the community and I understand the police are actively recruiting.It is a perfect job, and it is a great organisation. There is room to grow. You are not stuck being Constable for your whole career, unless you want to be. That is up to you. There is room to move up the ladder, but you have to take the step.What kind of training would you do if you decided you wanted to do it?There would be 18 to 20 weeks where they do a certain amount of time in the classroom and a certain amount of time on the street. There is also physical fitness that we do as well. They do train you to become physically fit.