(Editor's note: The Deh Cho Drum joined RCMP Const. Brad Lucas during his shift on Saturday night to gain insight into his job. This week marks Police Week.)

Const. Brad Lucas - Derek Neary/NNSL photo

Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Fort Simpson (May 14/04) - The first and only radio call comes in at 10 p.m. It's about a fire at a public housing complex commonly known as the "young old folks home."

At the scene, a light-grey smoke billows out the main door of the complex. Several people stand around outside.

Const. Lucas goes in, bangs on doors and yells for everyone to get out. A few more people emerge and Lucas comes out behind them. Most of the crowd disperses but one man keeps expressing concern about someone else left inside.

Lucas warns the man not to go back into the complex, but the man runs around to the back of the building. The police officer gives chase and arrests the individual a few minutes later, telling him he was being a nuisance and was drunk in public.

Volunteer fire crews arrives and Lucas tells firefighters some doors inside the building are locked and there may still be people inside.

He and Const. Heron, his shift co-worker, knock on a window to one of the apartments and warn the resident to evacuate.

The firefighters extinguish the blaze, caused by a roast left boiling in a unattended pot that ran out of water.

Twenty minutes later, Lucas returns to the RCMP detachment to book the prisoner. The man, who complains that he was just trying to save someone, is lodged in a jail cell to sober up overnight. Once jailed, the individual begins to yell profanities.

At 10:30 p.m., Lucas gets back into his RCMP Suburban and begins another patrol. In addition to turning on his radar, he says he keeps mental notes of who he sees on the streets and what they are wearing. If a complaint of a crime comes in the following day he can use those recollections to help him in his investigation, he explains.

Beginning his career

Over the next uneventful hour of driving, Lucas responds to the Drum's questions about his initial interest in policing. He says he was intrigued by a RCMP officer's presentation to his junior high school class. His older cousin in his home province of Newfoundland transferred from a career in wildlife enforcement to the RCMP, further influencing him.

Then Lucas was hired as an RCMP summer student and given six-weeks of training in St. John's.

"Right after that I was sold," he says.

He applied to join the police force but it took two-and-a-half years before he was accepted, during which time he went to university.

Being away from home, a lack of sleep and daily shaves were among the most challenging aspects of his 22 weeks of police training in Regina, he notes.

His first posting was here in Fort Simpson, where he has spent the last two years and eight months.

Pulling into the detachment again around 11:30 p.m., Lucas writes up three files -- one for the fire, one for the prisoner and one for the ride-along. He says 50 per cent of his job is spent on the streets while the other 50 per cent is paperwork.

Bar checks

At 1:15 a.m. Lucas and Heron check on things at the local bars. There are no problems at either establishment. In both locations, people greet the police officers like friends.

Back on the road, Lucas notices the gate at the compound next to Deh Cho Hardware is open. He calls Heron and the two of them search the area with flashlights. There is no indication of anything unusual -- the lock to the gate is broken.

As the bars close at 2 a.m., Lucas positions his vehicle across the street from the Sub-Arctic. He sees a young woman slap a man and he immediately drives over to investigate. The man asks him to arrest the woman, who leaves the scene. Lucas pulls up alongside the woman on the sidewalk and warns her that she could be charged with assault. Nothing more will happen because she's going home, she says. He allows her to go on her way, but warns her that she will be charged if anything else occurs.

Lucas then ends his shift. He acknowledges that the things were slow, as the RCMP usually receive at least five calls on a typical Saturday night. There were two bar fights the previous night.

However, he adds that more calls could come after hours. Although he was going home to get some sleep, his portable radio remains on until Sunday at 1 p.m. when his next shift begins.