"I was thrilled when I went to Baffin Island and then over to Fort Smith and Yellowknife," said Moffat, whose 26-year career saw the evolution from Beaver and Otter "piston-banger" planes to turbine and then jet planes.

Moffat, who retired as a staff sergeant, now lives in Edmonton.

"It was a fun, fun job. I still miss it to this day," he said. "The spirit of adventure," was the heart of the experience.

It was the spirit of adventure that also enticed Robert McDowell to the North in 1928.

"I was young and full of beans," recalled McDowell, now 84. "It's a country for young people."

McDowell's policing career encompassed 28 years in the North, including postings in Aklavik for five years and two more in Pangnirtung before retiring as a constable in 1955.

McDowell helped co-ordinate the pursuit of Albert Johnson, the "Mad Trapper of Rat River," in 1932. Johnson killed a police officer and wounded two others, eluding police for six weeks.

While driving a dog team to Fort McPherson, McDowell injured his knee saving a wounded member of the posse who had been shot in the chest.

"It was my 15 minutes of fame," McDowell said, laughing. "At the time, and under the circumstances, I'd do the same thing all over again."

The North also presents an opportunity to experience every aspect of the job -- including a sort of social work, Moffat acknowledged.

"There used to be a real old saying that policemen are frustrated social workers -- that you've got to like people and want to help people," said Moffat, whose career duties also comprised detachment work, highway patrol, the musical ride and composite artistry.

He added that working in the North "takes you to the roots of what police work should be, especially in the smaller communities."

Const. Dave Gray, of the Resolute Bay detachment, said that police work in the North is still rewarding.

"We deal with every single file that comes through our office from the smallest thing to an extremely extensive case," he said. "Down south, those cases might be handed off to your more experienced investigators or different sections."

That assessment was echoed by retired superintendent Lauren McKiel, who still calls Yellowknife home. His tours, starting in 1959, took him through Fort Smith, Fort Simpson, Yellowknife (twice), Whitehorse, Iqaluit and Cape Dorset.

"When you serve in the North, you're given more responsibility and authority," McKiel said, adding that self-reliance is essential.

He said he recalls travelling by freighter canoe from Fort Simpson to Wrigley in 1960.

"We used to take two days to go down river by canoe and visit all the camps along the way," McKiel recalled.

In the mid 1960s, McKiel made two-week treks by snowmobile from Cape Dorset to Kimmirut (then Lake Harbour), along Hudson Strait.

"We had seven camps where the Inuit were living along the coast," he said. "We were the only ones who went in any governmental capacity to see how they were doing."

Having raised three sons in the North, McKiel can't bring himself to find a warmer climate.

"The other thing is that the people you meet in the North, both inside and outside the force, become your friends for life," he said.

"It was a good experience. I wouldn't have missed it for the world."