Police awards best of 2007

BY RAFFY BOUDJIKANIAN

raffy.boudjikanian@transcontinental.ca

What do a gold watch, a toy police car and a bunch of plaques have in common? They were all given out by Montreal police Station 3 Cmdr. Michael Chartrand to various officers and civilians at a ceremony last Thursday to reward good community deeds accomplished during the last year, and, in some cases, an entire lifetime.

"I was surprised," said crossing guard Lise Joly, who was given a plaque for her 24 years of service in Pierrefonds. "I thought it was just a reunion of all the crossing guards," she said. Twenty-one of her years wee served at the same corner, on Sunnybrooke and Gouin.

She said she loved her work due to all of the human contact. "The kids recognize you, they say hi," she said. "One young man who I used to see 20 years ago as a 10-11 year old boy now drives his daughter to school in his truck. I still see him all the time," she said.

Other civilians who were rewarded included a minor who helped police find a criminal. "I'm going to give you your future work tool," joked Chartrand as he presented him with a police car.

Claude Roberge, the director of Cloverdale district's social housing units in Pierrefonds, was given a gold watch for bridging the gap between community and police.

"There was really no cooperation between police and Cloverdale with the previous administration," said community-relations officer Khobee Gibson, who praised Roberge's diligence.

Cloverdale district will not stop there though. A multi-million dollar investment from the city of Montreal will allow Roberge's group to have three new apartment buildings in 2008, according to the director. This would bring the total amount of people who live there to 3200, he said.

Several police officers were given plaques for their hard work as well, for various activities ranging from high performance at long-range shooting sessions to ensuring smooth operations at the PGA Presiden'ts Cup in September.

"Const. Sébastien Hébert even camped on the grounds, sleeping there, to make sure he was the first one on the scene and the last one at night," said Chartrand as he presented the officer with his plaque.

Twenty police officers and three civilians were honoured.