Jeff Colbourne
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jun 19/98) - Const. Anna Marie Mallard has been named the 1998 Officer of the Year.

The eight-year veteran of the RCMP was presented with the award Wednesday morning by Pam Meuwissen, co-ordinator of the Law Enforcement Advocacy Program in Yellowknife.

"It was very nice, certainly a honor," said Mallard, 38. "Our job is not always the most pleasant but certainly days like today it's a great job."

Mallard was born in Souris, P.E.I. in 1960, attended school there and graduated in 1978. She went to central school for nursing assistants in 1982 and graduated a year later as a licensed nursing assistant.

She worked in a Souris hospital nursing home for two years and in 1985 moved to Yellowknife for a job opportunity at Stanton Regional Hospital.

In 1990 she applied for and got into the RCMP and went off to Montreal for nearly nine months to study French. She then went to Regina to train for six months and became an officer. She has worked in Regina, northern Manitoba and for the past three years in Yellowknife.

An awful lot of the same work that she has been dealing with in the RCMP is similar to nursing, she said.

"In a lot of ways we're caregivers on the street. Instead of sick or traumatized people we're dealing with either violent or angry people or just someone who's traumatized in some way," said Mallard.

To do a job like this one must have to like people and enjoy what they're doing.

Mallard, nominated for this award by members of the community, is known to have a special touch and a tender ear when dealing with sexual assault incidents. She is also a avid volunteer with other community-minded partners in the city.

"It's people helping people really," she said.

Mallard does not want to think that this award sets her apart from other RCMP officers. Instead, she feels she is simply part of a team.

"It's nice to be appreciated. I do a little work over and above my own job and if there's anything to do with kids. If I can make a kids day brighter by just stopping and saying hello, it's well worth it," she said.

Mallard had her mother fly up from P.E.I. for the ceremony. She said it was a nice ceremony but tough having her peers talk about her in such a positive way.