SUNDRE – Although technically on a temporary full-time assignment until February, a new Mountie at the Sundre RCMP detachment who brings with her decades of police experience hopes to one day permanently settle in the area.
“I’m on assignment here until February; however, I do hope to extend that and eventually, if I was offered a transfer here, I would certainly take it,” said Cpl. Lindsey Anderson, who has been learning the local ropes since starting on Nov. 4.
“I’m looking to get local to the area here, I’d like to potentially buy a chunk of land,” Anderson told the Albertan during an interview at the Sundre RCMP detachment’s break room in recent weeks.
Currently commuting from Carstairs, the corporal brings with her an extensive amount of varied experience that all started in 2003 after graduating from Depot in Regina. Following five-plus years of service to the City of Red Deer, Anderson then went north to Fort McMurray where she worked general duty crime reduction before eventually being transferred to the Calgary Auto Theft unit in 2013.
“There was no shortage of property crime, auto theft, rural break and enters,” she said. “That kind of allowed us to focus on those prolific offenders and really kind of target those problem offenders and be able to liaise with the detachments.”
From there, she later undertook a secondment in major crimes before ultimately being placed with the Livestock Investigations Unit, where she’s been for more than seven years.
“The livestock unit is – in my opinion – the best job in the RCMP. It’s an enhanced policing position funded by Livestock Identification Services,” she said.
“We did all the enforcement for the Livestock Identification Commerce Act and the Stray Animals Act and then working alongside the brand inspectors in the province,” she elaborated.
“That allowed us to work a lot of close relationship files with local ranchers and producers who are having problems with theft of livestock, frauds, and stray livestock,” she said.
“It’s nice that I can kind of bring some of that knowledge too into the community.”
Although rustling unfortunately remains an issue, times have changed since the Old West – especially the economy, she said.
“We were dealing with a lot of fraudulent deals with the lenders; one of the recent files we did was over $10 million.”
Her affinity for working with the livestock unit perhaps stems in part from her own past.
“I’m like a farm girl at heart,” said Anderson, who grew up on a farm in Saskatchewan.
That background played an influential part in her aspiration to pursue a career path in policing.
“I kind of became passionate about becoming a member of the RCMP growing up in rural Saskatchewan up north,” she said, referring to becoming all-too-familiar with being victimized by property crime.
Having previously expressed an interest in working in the district, she did not hesitate to accept when the assignment became available and the position was offered to her.
“I’ve been in plain clothes for about 12 years and coming towards the end of my career I wanted to kind of get back into uniform,” she said. “This is why I joined the RCMP – I like to be on the road, I like to be out helping people, responding to calls and helping out as I can.”
She’s enjoyed her time in Sundre to date and looks forward to better getting to know the community.
“The members here are so fantastic,” she added. “We’re actually fully staffed, which is amazing because I don’t think that’s really status quo across the country right now.”
The corporal also expressed enthusiasm for the roll-out of body-worn body cameras and expects the devices will go a long way toward not only dispelling false accusations levelled against police but also holding officers more accountable.
“As an investigator looking into those complaints, to be able to review the body-worn camera footage I think we would be able to put a lot of public complaints to bed,” she said.
Among the most rewarding aspects of the job are being able to respond to calls and assist people as well as see victims through the process and whenever possible help them get restitution on property crime and closure on other issues.
By contrast, she said the most difficult part of carrying out her duties is dealing with families that have endured trauma and relaying next of kin notifications.
While spare time does not come in abundance, Anderson said she enjoys keeping fit and has run half marathons and also harbours a fondness for horses.
“I spend a lot of time in the mountains horseback riding, camping,” she said, citing as examples Ya Ha Tinda as well as the Panther River as some of her favourite destinations.
Although where she might end up after her assignment is not yet set in stone, Anderson hopes to land a permanent position.
“I love the West Country and would ideally like to one day be posted to Sundre. But that’s not up to me – I would say ‘yes’ if the RCMP were to offer it, but I’m here for now. And so far, I’m loving it.”
