Lynn Lau
Northern News Services

Inuvik (May 20/02) - In a way, Const. Noella Cockney can thank her son for getting her into the RCMP.

Thirteen years ago, she was a college student in Nova Scotia with plans to follow the footsteps of her mother Lucy, and become a teacher.

But after a year and a half at school, Cockney got pregnant with her son Noel, and she came back to Tuktoyaktuk to raise him.

The RCMP detachment heard she was coming home, and called her to see if she would come in to replace a secretary who had just quit.

And that's how her career with the police began.

Cockney worked for six years at the reception desk in the Tuktoyaktuk detachment when she decided to apply to become an officer.

"I had to help one of the members a couple times and I thought it was kind of interesting," Cockney recalls. "I was dealing with the people, but being the secretary, it was just at the counter, that's basically it. I wanted to get into the community."

She also had an interest because her father, Bill Cockney, had been a special constable in the 1950s and she'd heard many stories of his exploits in the service. Knowing the dangers that come with the job, her parents weren't thrilled when she decided to become an officer.

"They didn't like it at first but they always encouraged all of their children to do what we wanted and be what we wanted to be," she says. "They were a big help to me -- they took care of my son when I was training in Regina, and they'd take care of him if something serious was happening and I got called in."

Cockney worked for four years in Tuktoyaktuk as a police officer before moving to Inuvik two years ago.

Being from the community, Cockney says it was a challenge sometimes dealing with the people she'd known all her life. "Dealing with relatives was a bit difficult at first because everyone thought they'd be getting away with things," she says. "But I let them know right off the bat nobody would be getting away with anything. After they found (out) my point of view, everything worked out great."

Now, people stop her and say they're glad to see a native police officer serving the community.

"I like helping my people here in the North," she says. "Every once in a while I get a nice comment and that brightens my whole day. It's a nice feeling."