SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A woman's touch is often the tool that cracks a tough case, says Const. Lindsay Ralph.

Cpl. Violet Pokiak, a seven-year member of the Yellowknife RCMP detachment, said being mother and a Mountie is possible since the police force can offer flexible hours in larger cities.

The 30-year-old Yellowknife Mountie, who has been in town for two months, said woman-officers bring a different perspective ­ can be viewed as being softer than their male counterparts ­ and add diversity to the RCMP, which began training female cadets 40 years ago. Being able to empathize with female victims and suspects has helped female officers ­ like Ralph ­ to take their investigations to completion in ways male officers may struggle with, she said.

"Many times if a person isn't willing to speak to a male coworker, I'll offer to speak with them and generally, most of the time, they'll speak to me," she said.

When police deal with members of the public in crisis situations, having male and female officers means the police can present them with whichever gender they'll be most comfortable speaking to, said Cpl. Violet Pokiak, a 22-year veteran, with seven years experience at the Yellowknife detachment.

"They'll ask us is there a male member I can speak to instead, or is there a female member?", said Pokiak. "I think it's good to have both male and female members . . . it just makes it that much easier."

Born in Yellowknife, Pokiak grew up in Tuktoyaktuk and said she was exposed to RCMP officers throughout her childhood. She trained at the RCMP training facility, Depot in Regina, after working a couple summers in the summer student program at the Tuktoyaktuk detachment. The experience left her with a resolve to become a Mountie.

"It really opened my eyes to what the police do," she said. "It's been 22 years that I've been in the RCMP, but sometimes it feels like it was just yesterday."

In Yellowknife, Pokiak said officers usually spend three years with the detachment at a time. Having spent seven years here -- working first in the recruiting section -- Pokiak said she's grown to know the local crowd quite well.

"Some of them recognize me on my days off," she said. "What surprises me is the number of people that didn't recognize me when I wasn't in uniform. I guess that's a good thing."

Pokiak said the biggest concern for police working in the city is the workload.

"There's never enough of us to go around," she said. "From what I hear . . . the issue is always man-power."

She said young women looking to join the RCMP should be aware that it's tough work ­ physically and mentally ­ but if they put their minds to it, and are determined to be police officers, it's definitely possible, even if they're parents. Pokiak said she became a mother while she was working with the recruiting section, with the city's detachment, and the hours made it possible for her to be home with her daughter every night.

"It really helped a lot . . . It would have been really difficult to work shift work with a little baby at home," she said. "But it's not impossible. A lot of women do do that."

Pokiak said she was concerned about being in the public eye before joining the force, but it has never become a problem for her since she became a Mountie.

"I don't like attention being focused on myself," she said. "I've been asked a few times to do interveiws a few times and I've always stayed away from all of that . . . when I'm not working, when I'm not in uniform, and I meet people from other departments or the public, if they ask where you work I just say for the government or something like that."

She said she doesn't like how people treat her differently once they realize she is a cop.

"They either want to be your friend or they don't want to be your friend," said Pokiak. "I don't usually bring that out in my personal life. I'm a pretty quiet person outside of work anyways, so for me it hasn't been an issue."

For Const. Ralph, who said she joined the RCMP out of an interest in law and a desire to find a career where she would be helping people, life in Yellowknife has been an eye-opener.

"A lot of people told me there are no trees," she the Moncton, N.B. native. "I find it very familiar looking. It's kind of like the east coast. You don't have any mountains, and there's water. It's very beautiful here. And I found it interesting that the city is so developed, being in the Northwest Territories."

Young women thinking about joining the RCMP need to know the training process is long, said Ralph.

"You have long strenuous days where you're exhausted and you don't think you're going to make it to the next one," she said. "You just put one foot in front of the other, and march your caboose to the class that you have to go to."

There's a fitness requirement, cadets are trained in firearms, tactical driving, and are paraded in uniform every morning during training, she said. But there is no longer a horse-riding component, since that was dropped in 1969.

"I'm treated fairly . . . the guys talk to me just like one of the guys," she said. "I'm not left out because I won't get it, or I won't be interested in their conversations. Everyone here has been very nice. I don't really see a difference whether I'm working with females or with males."

Although women first began to train in the RCMP in 1974, a female presence within the organization has a history dating back to the turn of the century when female gaolers and matrons were present in jails, according to the RCMP website. Const. Elenore Sturko, communications officer for the city's RCMP detachment, said there are currently six female officers working in Yellowknife and that female mounties are on the job on every watch.