Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

Fort Liard (June 07/02) - Watch out, there's a new officer on the beat. Well, maybe give it another 15 years.

Grade 5 student Carla Payou from Acho Dene school in Fort Liard says she has wanted to be a police officer since she was eight-years-old.

She finally got her chance to fulfil her dream a few weeks ago, after winning an essay contest explaining why she wanted to be a police officer.

"She is one of the brighter kids in the class," says Fort Liard detachment commander Cpl. Craig Seafoot. "One of the deciding factors was her essay.

"She wrote a seven-page paper. We could tell that she did it all by herself. She was also very honest."

The contest, Seafoot explains, was held in conjunction with career days at the school and Police Week. Payou was selected last month, and accompanied members for a half-day as an honourary officer on May 17.

Payou even took a crack at stopping motorists, checking for expired driving licences and insurance.

"We drove around, and we stopped my dad, and we stopped this other guy," says Payou.

"I said, 'can I see your licence and insurance please?', and they gave it to me."

"After the ride we went back to the office, and they gave me this movie to watch on police training."

Seafoot says the detachment will likely conduct another essay writing contest next year.

He hopes now that Payou's peers have seen her on the job, even more kids will be interested.

"We only had eight kids participate this year," says Seafoot.

"So maybe when the other kids see what she got out of it, we will get more students participating."

For Payou, it was all in a day's work.

"It looks like a lot of fun," says Payou. "They do a lot of stuff. They make people feel safe when they're out."