🎙️ Career Moves & Front-Line Impact | Jayne Hutchison and the Saskatchewan Marshals Service

This episode of Sirens, Slammers and Service brings the heat with Jayne Hutchison, who walks us through her career transition into her current role as a Marshal with the Saskatchewan Marshals Service—one of the newest and fastest-evolving law enforcement agencies in Canada. 

Jayne reflects on her path through the Saskatchewan Highway Patrol and Alberta Commercial Vehicle Enforcement, and what it really takes to step into a brand-new policing mandate. We dig into the realities of the demanding POPAT physical test, the importance of adaptability, and why chasing your goals—especially when they feel uncomfortable—matters. 

She also breaks down the collaborative mandate of the Saskatchewan Marshal Service, their current focus on warrant apprehension, and how they’re supporting agencies across the province as the organization rapidly grows. 

If you’ve ever been curious about a career with the Saskatchewan Marshals Service, this episode is a must-listen—and yes, Jayne makes it clear: reach out and ask questions. Opportunity favours the bold. 🎧🔥 

Blue Line Fitness Testing is a premier law enforcement fitness testing and training center based in Edmonton. Specializing in helping individuals prepare for the physical demands of a career in law enforcement, we offer comprehensive fitness evaluations, specialized training programs, and classes tailored to meet the unique needs of our clients. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Sirens, Slammers, and Service, a podcast for female first responders by female first responders. My name is Nikki Kluce and I will be your host. As a former correctional officer in Alberta for almost two decades and the founder of Blue Line Fitness Testing, which provides law enforcement fitness testing and first responder wellness workshops, I started this podcast as a way for female first responders to share the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of their daily work. I want to showcase the unique perspectives, skill sets, and personalities that women bring to a first responder career and share their stories. So get ready to laugh your ass off, learn a whole bunch, and be inspired by some pretty badass women. Let's go.

SPEAKER_01 0:47

Hey guys, we are back. Oh my gosh, today I am joined all the way from sunny Saskatchewan with Jane Hutchison. Jane is currently a marshal with the Saskatchewan Marshall Service. She's been with them for three months, but prior to that, she was with Saskatchewan Highway Patrol as a sergeant for five years. And prior to that, she was with Alberta Commercial Vehicle Enforcement before they joined the sheriffs. She did that for 10 years. And she was out of St. Paul, Vermilion, and Wainwright. So she has traveled rural everything. This girl knows what it's like to be in the country. Jane, welcome to the show. How are you today? I'm great. How are you doing? I'm good. I'm good. I'm so happy to have you on the show. We've had a ton of kind of back and forth to try and get our shit organized and all of our schedules sorted out. And I was actually introduced to you via Alexandria Dorner. So for all of our listeners out there that know Dorner, she hooked me up with Jane. Thanks, Alex. I love you. I miss you. Come back to Edmonton. But she met you through her position in Lloyd Minster and she said, You absolutely have to have Jane on the show. She's so cool. And so here we are. We we finally made it happen. I'm super excited to hear your story. Literally, so much different experience. So tell me like how this all kicked off like 16-ish years ago.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

Yeah, actually, it's been a little bit longer than that because I took a short pause to have a few babies, and as some women do. But yeah, I have my law enforcement career started back in 2002. And that's when I took a position with commercial vehicle enforcement not too long after I graduated Lethbridge College in policing. And then yeah, I was with them for about 10 years. I had a couple of babies in that time. And eventually you get to a point where you have to decide if you're gonna take an active role in raising your kids or who is gonna actively raise your children. So I took a step back from that role so that I could figure some things out. I had a short hiatus and then got back into law enforcement briefly, trying again to figure out what my what my path was and figuring out how I could navigate being in law enforcement and a full-time mom and wife and all those things. So I eventually ended up going back to police college at the age of 40. So when I first went through police college or training, when I first went through training with commercial vehicle enforcement, I was the youngest. I was 21, like within days of starting with them. And then when I went back to police college, I was the oldest in the group. Men, women, everybody. So I've seen a lot of things between the house all those years. Definitely two different ends of the spectrum. Yeah, and then that took me to a five-year, almost five years with highway patrol in Saskatchewan. And then most recently got on with the brand new Marshall Service here in Saskatchewan, and we're building it from the ground up. And it's uh again a whole different experience.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

It's so incredible because uh, so you started at the same time as me. I started in 2002 in corrections, and so yeah, same thing. I was 22, I was a baby, and I was like, thought I could conquer the world going out there. Like, yes, look at me being so mature at 22, and now here I am at 46. And I'm like, I didn't know shit. I didn't know anything. Like, yeah. Okay, so coming um like Lethbridge College, so two-year diploma in police studies. And so, what was it that drew you towards commercial vehicle enforcement specifically, rather than say like corrections or like there's a bunch of different kind of avenues you could go with that diploma?

SPEAKER_02 4:34

Yeah, I actually sat on the fence for quite a while. I took some practicums through corrections or with corrections, and then I had taken a couple of different courses having to do with highway traffic and also then commercial vehicle enforcement. And essentially it's kind of who hired me out of the gate, is where I ended up landing. I got on with commercial vehicle enforcement within about six months of graduating from Lethbridge College, and it they almost made it too good to go anywhere, to be totally honest. It was good hours and stable employment and a pension and all those things that draw you to government positions like that, but also they just treated us really good. And there was things like your socks were paid for and your dry cleaning and like things like that. So even though I did have plans to go and be a police officer from when I was at a really young age, they just treated us so good there that I stayed for a long time and and thought that I was going to be able to raise my family while I did it. Things changed a little bit, took a small break, but yeah, yeah. I I liked the industry. And in all honesty, I have always like my whole career has been spent with the like trucking industry. And yeah, I was honestly pretty good at it, but also there's a lot of subject knowledge that you need to be up on, up on your stuff. And yeah, I was pretty good at it.

SPEAKER_01 6:06

It is very interesting. I've like I knew about commercial vehicle enforcement just like in having you drive down and you see the things and you're like, oh, what are they doing? Why are they talking stopping all these trucks? Oh wow, that's really interesting. And then more so moving like through corrections and then into working blue line now, because we help a lot of people get into the share. So now in Alberta, as you know, commercial vehicle enforcement as part of the sheriff's role, and a lot of the highway patrol guys are now doing commercial vehicle enforcement as part of their highway patrol responsibilities. And so talking to them, and again, like when they say they're like, they're like, oh my god, Nikki, there's so much to know, like different levels of like uh certification within it, and like this is what you need to be looking for. And oh my god, if they if they don't have this, then this, and then this happens, and then we impound the truck, and it's like, holy crap, like because you don't really think, like just as a lay person driving down the highway, you don't really think that there's like people actually checking these trucks to make sure that like shit isn't falling off of them and going to hurt other people. So it's it is it's very, very interesting to me that you took that. And so, did you go from Lethbridge to St. Paul? Like that was your first move was to go straight to St. Paul?

SPEAKER_02 7:16

Yeah, I had a couple of months off in between graduating and then getting on with them, but pretty pretty much, yeah. I went right up to St. Paul and I didn't even know where St. Paul, Alberta was. I always swore that I was gonna live like north of Highway 16 because I'm from the north anyway. And then when she offered me St. Paul, I said, Oh, let me grab a map. An actual paper map out on the kitchen table. And I was like, Oh, yeah, that's in the north. I'll take it.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

Yes, yeah, adorable, adorable. And you said that you'd you'd wanted to be police since you were a kid. Like, is that something that you did what what what what made you think that?

SPEAKER_02 7:54

I I don't know. I I really just wanted to be in a uniform, helping people my whole life. It was honestly what I was drawn to do. So even throughout high school, I took it was called work experience, and I did it all at the RCP, like year after year after year, because I just wanted to be everything that had that that entailed. And I knew I knew what I wanted to do for yeah, most of my life.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

And where are you from? You said you're from the north. I'm from Hinton, Alberta, actually. Good old Hinton. Yeah, I love good old Hinton, yes. Okay, so then commercial vehicle enforcement, because as a female, I feel like working with the trucking industry could be, could be kind of tough because a lot of those men do not like women and do not like women enforcing things that they are supposed to be doing. And I know this because I have dealt with a lot of truckers as well. And just even hearing from like again, my sheriff friends now, all males, when they're like, how much you have to argue with a truck driver about the fact that your truck is not drivable, like you cannot be hauling this in this truck because this is not it's not safe. So, how did you find that dynamic? Like having to get in there and be underneath, like, because you're like fully underneath. So, for our listeners that don't know what commercial is, like they are literally in coveralls underneath the trucks, like inspecting, like taking parts off the truck and looking at them. Like, this isn't just like pulling them over and being like, hey, where's your paperwork? Have you been driving for more than eight hours? Like they're like looking at the truck. So, how was that? And like, what else are we looking for when we're pulling trucks over?

SPEAKER_02 9:45

It was it can be challenging, honestly. And you're right, there's lots of people that some men that don't want to listen to females, but honestly, it was not as hard as it you might think. Uh, it was really important to know your shit, honestly. But that's in law enforcement, anyways. It's important to know your stuff. So I can quickly I can be happy and carefree and smiley, and we can honestly not hate the interaction, but I'll but I can very quickly switch it, and now we mean business. But again, that's in law enforcement, you know, as a whole. That's kind of how I've tried to navigate through. I do think that if you know your authorities and you know your role, then people quickly kind of figure out fast and speaking to you that you mean business, and yeah, you're not gonna take you're not gonna take it, and we're gonna get through what we have to get through here today, one way or the other. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:49

And so when you when there is the stop, like the whether the there's like the little hut thing, like I'm literally thinking highway two right now because I drove past it yesterday. I was out of the duke commercial vehicle, the light is going, says all trucks you have to pull off. So the trucks are pulling through. What like what does that look like? What does a stop entail?

SPEAKER_02 11:11

Uh yeah. So you're just just like you're saying, hi, like here's what we're doing today. I need all your paperwork. You need to make sure that you're kind of asking all the right questions, depending on what the what that trip or what that load looks like, and working your way through it. It can be a daunting task to go through all of the paperwork on in its entirety. But and depending on what you are looking at that day or what your intentions are and being able to shift and pivot and move in the direction that the stop takes you, because you might be stopping them for one thing and it very might very much might roll into an impaired stop, or you know, or their load is illegal, or you know, anything, it can go any which direction. So yeah, just making it uh like a regular old traffic stop on the side of the road. So we weren't just in a scale, we call those little huts scale and uh the scale buildings. So I was mostly most of my career both in Alberta and Saskatchewan was on the highway. Uh, I didn't I didn't work too much at the scales, so we were just roving patrols and that. So yeah. So as usually it happens roadside and you're looking at all those things, but when we have to do an actual level one, which is the full going underneath and walk around, and the paperwork portions, we usually do that in a controlled environment where we could so and so like what is the paperwork that they have to have? They need paperwork in regard regards to the load that they're carrying, where it's going, where it's from, who's accepting it, driver's license, obviously, like you spoke about the logbooks and that, depending if they're staying provincially or interprovincial or going interprovincially. Dangerous goods, depending if there's there's dangerous goods on board, all of those things, everything just provides another layer to the stop. So depends.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

And so what would be like, is it just like sorry, sorry, when you were saying you're patrolling, is it just like randomly like, okay, let's just stop this truck here? Or is it like that it's kind of more targeted? Like you're kind of like, wow, that load does not look like safe, as in like it's not tarped down properly or it's not secured properly, or like that driver is driving erratically, or there's something going on. Like, is it or is it a combo of all?

SPEAKER_02 13:31

A combo of all that, yeah. So sometimes it is literally the next truck. You just happen to be the next one that I'm ready to lag in somewhere or to stop, or it might be targeted. Like, I need we're inspecting loads, so let's stop all sorts of things. Different trucks with different loads. It might be a dangerous goods day, it might just be, yeah, that doesn't look safe, or that doesn't look right, or that's a problem company, or you know, all different, all different things draw your attention to it. Yeah. And do you work on your own or do you work with a partner? In my role with highway patrol, Alberta and Saskatchewan, mostly alone, yeah. Wow. Yeah, all together. And then the role that I'm in now, then we're we're working a team of two almost always.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

Okay, yeah. And so at the beginning of the day, so I'm just going back to Alberta and then I'm on talk about Saskatchewan because there's so much more. There's just I'm just I I'm so curious because I know nothing about this industry at all, like nothing. And I just I like I love learning this stuff. I love it. So, like you would go to work in the morning or whatever. Okay, that's the other question I have. What was your shifts? And at the beginning of the shift, you would go and they would just be like, today we're doing dangerous goods, or like this week we're doing dangerous goods. Like, how did how was that all decided?

SPEAKER_02 14:49

Yeah, sometimes there was targeted enforcement projects like that, but for the most part, if I rolled in days and nights, the shifts were both days, nights, some midnights, depending on what was happening, but not too many that I ended up working. And it's you have to really have an initiative day in and day out to go and get to work. So most days it's just drumming up the work that I come up with that day. So, and again, there's there is different things. So you might be after a certain demographic, but for the most part, you you have to just go out and see what you see. And the better you are at it and the more you know, then uh it makes it easier to make those stops because something's off, something's not right with this or that. So then once you once you get to know the job really well, then making those stops becomes a lot easier and you know what you're you're stopping for. With commercial vehicles, you have the authority to stop them and inspect their uh load, their driver's license, their paperwork, all of the things, uh checking sobriety, all those things, and you can do that anytime. So you don't have to have a reason, but most of us would end up having a reason often, like you know, tail light out might be, or headlight or whatnot.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

But yeah, interesting, interesting. And what was the training for it? Like, so obviously you had your like college degree and then got on with the the service, and then to know all this stuff, how like what did that training look like for you?

SPEAKER_02 16:30

So at the beginning in Alberta, it was four months in Lethbridge again, taking recruit training. So that was everything from DT, like defensive tactics, law, and then pieces of legislation, hours of service, and like very specific some very specific deep dives into certain legislation. So that was about four months. I think there was a driving and evoc driving portion to that as well. Yes, there was. And that was all in four months over a summer and a couple of months beyond. And then when I got on with Saskatchewan High Patrol, I actually went back to police college. So there we trained right alongside all law enforcement, municipal law enforcement agencies. So if that was Regina Police or Saskatoon, Prince Albert, and all of them. So we were just in a big hodgepodge class of 30-ish, and you learn everything. There is learn in uh six uh six about six months. It was about 20 weeks, 21 weeks. And then yeah, so then I had yeah, when I went back, I went back and started from scratch. I had went back and did it all over again.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Wow. And so when you were in with Alberta, how many other women were with you?

SPEAKER_02 18:40

Two in a class of I think there was about 10 of us there, and there was two other females in that class, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

Wow. And so then you said, so you basically you did your 10 years, but along the way, had some babies. Totally get it. I also did the same thing, and then made the choice at the end of your 10 years. Is that when you took your break and kind of said, I gotta figure out what's gonna happen here? Because I I know what you're saying, and we've actually on this podcast, we've done a show on being a female first responder and being a mom and the extra work and shit that comes with that because it is a lot. There's so many other things that come with being a first responder and being a mom. Shipwork being like the tip of the iceberg of like, how do I make this work with my family and these children that need me that like right want want mom to put them to bed and want mom to be home and when we get home from school and want mom to be there in the morning, and it doesn't always work out that way. So I a hundred percent understand that. And and like you said, you you you summed it up really well with like who who is gonna be raising my kids? Is it going to be me or is it gonna be somebody else? So I totally get that. So what what had happened there and what where did that go from there?

SPEAKER_02 20:04

Uh yeah, so I was in Wainwright at the time. My husband was from Saskatchewan. We had bought Acreage kind of in between his work, Lloyd Minster, and mine out in Wainwright. And yeah, childcare was not really an option. We, you know, like how how do we drop off our kids at 4 a.m. if that's my shift that day, or where's he going? Where am I going? It got it got pretty crazy. Uh, we tried to have a nanny at one point. That was interesting. And also, again, who whose values who who's gonna raise our kids and whose values are we gonna are we gonna use? Because the things that the way that I plan to raise my kids are very different than some others that might raise theirs. So we quickly realized that that wasn't the answer either. And then yeah, we moved back to Saskatchewan after our second son was born and and just knew that we wanted to raise our kids out in a small rural Saskatchewan. And I took I real also realized really quickly, I thought at first that I might be a stay-at-home mom. Well turns out, nope, nope, that's not for me, can't won't be doing that. So then I just I I took a job with a local toing company and did some dispatch and things like that just to get out and make make my own money and and prepare myself to be happy and and and feel like I was contributing. And then I re recognize even though like I was treated so well in the public sector, like so well, I I knew that I wasn't done with law enforcement. I recognized that I like I still was drawn to that and I needed to get back into it, but also I ain't getting any younger. So when are we gonna pull the trigger on getting back into it? So I I took a a short stint with a position with the provincial government here in Saskatchewan, and it was really good, but it was really cushy and it was really not too exciting. So I ended up going back and working for the company that I worked for before, and then I knew that COVID happened actually. Took a short pause and got into a correctional position and knew that that wasn't necessarily what I could do long term at all. But and then I got on with Saskatchewan High Patrol, so I a gunned for that because I was you know getting older in age, and now you have to run the Popat and all those things, and I was pretty much. Much ready to take a position with them. And COVID was in full force. And I couldn't find anywhere. I had to run the Popat as part of the application process. And I couldn't find anywhere that would allow me to go in and practice a push pull and those things. And I timed out. I dropped the poll on my fifth arc. And that was it. I timed out and they went, see you next time. So I was so discouraged. I was very upset. But uh like, like, I mean, like my kids were with their auntie and they're holding up signs saying, Goma, Goma, like they're sending me pictures, and I had to like let them know that I failed and I didn't do it. And and then they're, you know, nobody understands that it's like a one-time deal. Well, not necessarily a one-time deal, but you get one chance. Like that, that was my chance, and and it didn't work out. So then I put my sights on highway patrol and knew that I would train harder and smarter and do what I could. And then so the next round, I I nailed it. I got her. And now I've had that pope. I you know, you don't run the Pope app quite a few times through police college. We had to run it in the first week of like going in or run it before we got into police college, then the first week of police college, and then a few times throughout. So now we're now I feel like I'm old hat and could rock that thing anytime.

SPEAKER_01 24:14

But it's okay. So what what year was this when you when you were doing this? When you failed? What was the year when you failed? Yeah, like two well, I don't know, when was COVID? 2021, maybe.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

I know. Well, I I hear this now because I brought up your name and somebody went, Oh yeah, we know her. Yes. Oh well, how come I didn't know her? Because I could have I could have used your help, I tell you.

SPEAKER_01 24:39

100%. I was trained, I was actually training a girl who was trying to get on with Saskatchewan Highway Patrol on the Popat, like probably the same hiring as you. And she uh she was struggling with the six-foot jump. That's what was getting her every single time. And she was, and we trained, we probably trained for six months, and then she finally got it, and it was like, thank God. And then she was like, you know what? I don't actually want to go for Saskatchewan Highway Patrol. I think I'm gonna go for something. And I was like, girl, we've been doing this for six months. What the fuck do you mean you don't want to do anymore?

SPEAKER_02 25:08

Well, the thing is that that that test Popat pair they kind of follow you around anywhere if you're anywhere in law enforcement. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:17

But but the Popat is, it is the hardest. So, like for our listeners, if you don't know what the Popat is, take the pair, the hardest part of the pair, the six obstacles, the six laps of the obstacle course, make it a six-foot jump instead of a five-foot jump, and you don't just get a timed penalty if you hit the line. You have to go back to the cone, try it again. If you touch again, you go back to the cone, you try it again. If you touch it on the third time, your test is done, regardless of if you are in the first lap. You you could literally run 20 fucking five meters and fail out on the first lap. And then it adds the back half of the copat, which is the hardest part for the push pull with the strict penalties. If you drop it, like you're restarting everything, and it makes it heavier. So instead of 70 pounds, you're doing 80 pounds, and then you do the vault, 10 volts, fucking awful. And then you have to do the 100-pound weighted bag instead of the 80-pound weighted bag. And guess what, guys? You get to do all of this in less than four minutes and 15 seconds. However, most agencies want you a competitive time of under four. And so it is the hardest by far. Like we uh we have a 30% pass rate for Popats when we run them because it is so challenging and people do not understand how much energy and effort is actually required to do it and to do it quick enough. That's the big thing, to do it and do it quick enough to get in under the time. So, yeah, the Popat for sure. Every single time I see, every single time I see the bookings for it, I'm like, okay, so I need to have a conversation with this person and make sure that they understand because a lot of them are like, oh yeah, it's like the pair, but with a six-foot ball or a six-foot jump. And I'm like, no, it is not. Let's have a conversation. So yeah, yeah. Okay, and so then when you moved over to Saskatchewan Highway Patrol, that was when you had to go back to police college?

SPEAKER_02 27:04

Yeah, I went back to police college. Yeah. And then after you finished police college, you go through the 20 weeks, then SHP would put you through the commercial vehicle training. So a lot of them I was able to challenge the exams on because I had taken them previously with Alberta. But yeah, then you go and you you start doing even more training. So it because it is a very specialized position.

SPEAKER_01 27:33

So yeah, lots of training. And so then with Saskatchewan Highway Patrol, so you were saying previously that you're basically on your own quite a lot. Is is Saskatchewan Highway Patrol is that also like not just commercial vehicle enforcement? Like you're you're doing highway patrol, you're doing traffic enforcement on the highways, no jurisdiction within city limits. Am I right?

SPEAKER_02 27:56

Uh no, you can any anywhere in the province. So absolutely anywhere in the province. Uh you won't see. Well, it depends. Yeah, it depends. We, you know, if you're doing an impaired project, you're right, smack dab in the middle. Uh, or yeah, you might be sitting on a problem stop sign right in the middle of town because there's an issue there. So yeah, that's literally anywhere in the province you can venture out to. And what are the shifts like for that? Like, are you days, afternoons, nights? Uh yeah, just mostly days and afternoons, but yeah, we would do you know, oddball hours sometimes for a different project, and but mostly days and afternoons. Yeah. And was it eight-hour shifts or like 10 or 12? They're tens, they're tens there. Yeah. Well, there are some eights, but mostly tens when I worked there for five years.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

Yeah. And so when you left, you were in the sergeant's role. So how did that kind of transpire to move up into that sergeant's role?

SPEAKER_02 28:54

Yeah. So I had aligned myself with like, so I say that there's a lot of training. There is so much training offered through Highway Patrol, SHP. They yeah, we take a lot of courses through the police college, right from well, when you get hired all the way through. And I took some law enforcement uh leadership courses through them, like they're superb. Yeah. And I just kind of aligned myself as far as training goes and waited for a position to come available. I don't want to leave the area that I'm in. So when a spot came open for Lloyd Minster, I jumped on it, but they were actually moving the position into North Battleford. So whether or not I left Highway Patrol, I was taking jump over to North Battleford. So, which kind of played into how I ended up taking the role that I'm in now.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

And so, what what changed in your role moving into sergeant? Like, were you out of the car more? You're doing more administrative stuff. Did that change?

SPEAKER_02 29:55

Like very much so. Yeah. You end up doing a lot of administrative things in the in the office. You also handle court, like all the first appearances and court within the province of Saskatchewan is all handled, mostly handled at an officer or somebody standing in. In Alberta, most of your things were handled by a prosecutor, a provincial prosecutor. That's not the case over here. You actually handle most of the court on your own. So I you're almost practicing to be a lawyer at the same time, uh making deals or doing first appearance and then explaining legislation and different charges to the to the judge and anybody else who needed to some insight onto it. And because the legislation that you deal with is very can be very intricate. Sometimes it's like to step by step go to this section and change to this section and see where this plays in. And yeah, I thought it's pretty, pretty interesting. But yeah, big a big part of that, especially in the northwest corner in Saskatchewan, is handling court. It's quite heavy, especially if you've got officers under you that write a lot of tickets and get into a lot of stuff. So I I actually sum up being a sergeant with some more money, yeah, and a different rank, which is nice, but a lot less fun because you're not being able to hit the highway as much.

SPEAKER_01 31:17

And yeah, a lot more responsibility. I always said the same thing. When I moved from being frontline to being a supervisor, I was like, oh, oh, this isn't all it's cracked up to be. And then I went from supervision, like supervisory, like midline to management. And I was like, wait a minute, back. Like, how do I not do this and go back to that? And like it wasn't just me. Like, we would have conversations. So what when I before I left, there was a team of five of us at the rematch, two managers and then three assistant managers. And we would all like sit in the office and talk about how we just wanted to go back and be frontline officers. And we're just like, what if we all just like quit? Like, what if all five of us just were like, you know what? See you later. We're going back to the floor. Like, what what what could they do? What could they do? What would happen? Because it's true. We yes, okay, yes. So now I have leaps on my shoulders instead of nothing or instead of stripes. Okay, great. But now I have so much more responsibility. When shit hits the fan, it's me that gets shit on. Like I'm the first where the shit hits first and then it rolls downhill from me. I don't like that. I don't like being in the office all the time and being on the computer all the time. I like to be out. I like to be out and dealing with people. And so it was just like, I was like, what? What have I done? I've made a mistake here and it is too late to go back. Like, damn, there's other is other things. Like, again, I try not to make it sound like it's a terrible idea to move into management or supervisory rules. But for those people that are listening, like, isn't all not all sunshine and rainbows and super fun, like like it looks like when you're a frontline officer, where you're like, oh, I can make all this change as a supervisor. No, you fucking can't. No, you can't. You think you can, and then you get there and you realize, no, you can't. You're really just a desk jockey that's trying your best to fucking hold it together. So yeah. Okay. And so then from there, five years into that, this new Saskatchewan Marshall service, which I just it sounds so fucking cool. First of all, Marshalls with one L guys, not with two Marshalls with one L. Tell me all about this because I had honestly not even heard that this was a thing until you and I started talking. And then I was like, I'm sorry, what? Saskatchewan is doing what? Like, how do we not fucking know about this? So tell me, tell what what is going on with this Marshall service?

SPEAKER_02 33:33

Yeah, so it is very new. I I mean, like I say, I've only been in the role for about three months, so I'm still kind of learning the ins and outs. And and because it is so new, things are rapidly changing and evolving. So it is fairly exciting and good. The big idea behind it is that we're here in the province, uh, we're police with jurisdiction opposed to police of jurisdiction. So the RCMP is still our police of jurisdiction, or if you're in a city, Saskatoon, they're police of jurisdiction. So we uh have jurisdiction within the entire province and we uh complement whatever service kind of needs us as whatever those you know things that pop up might be. And yeah, we complement the police of jurisdiction. We right now are doing a lot of warrant apprehension and and that. So looking for people who are wanted on warrant and whether they're you know evading the police or perhaps they're not being, you know, completely tracked every address that they may they may have. And we're just we have the time and ability to just start looking and digging deeper into where people might be hiding. And then, yeah, if the RCMP or whatever police service needs a hand, we're also capable and ready to just, you know, go and provide whatever support they might need as well.

SPEAKER_01 35:03

So because you did the police college to go into Saskatchewan Highway Patrol, is that how you had the education and the experience to apply into this? Yeah, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 35:16

And that along with my training and my experience with with Saskatchewan Highway Patrol, led me to have the credentials to apply and and get on with them. So I didn't there are uh we just had two go graduate from the police college, first ever two marshals, and they actually came over from Highway Patrol as well. And they went because they was they were prior to go, they were hired and trained prior to us going to the police college with SHP. So yeah, so they had they went through and they graduated, and now I think there's two down at the police college right now taking their training. So they're they're taking some experience mixed in with new officers and plan to build it with a mixture of both.

SPEAKER_01 36:05

Incredible. And so you are uh based out of North Battleford then right now? Yeah, yeah. Okay, awesome. And then like, so what do the shifts look like for this? What like how's your rotation look like?

SPEAKER_02 36:20

So right now it's it's mostly days unless there's a project or unless something is happening, uh, mostly because we need to have some support staff. And as of right now, our support staff is only in Prince Albert, and we are looking to hire you know support staff for North Battleford as well. But you know, we're taking a slow roll, so we're trying to get everything in place. So we can't really grow bigger than our our capabilities. So right now it's it's it's it's very it's small, but it's building, and we we just need to get infrastructure and support staff is like two big things that we're they're working towards right now.

SPEAKER_01 37:03

That's incredible. I think it's it is such a good idea. Like, like the the thought process behind it, the logic behind it makes total sense in that, like you said, police of jurisdiction versus police with jurisdiction, the roles and responses, how they complement each other, but yet how they also are two separate things that can then do work that allows the other group to do different work that they need to do, right? Like it's so it's not like it's like a we're taking this or you're not allowed to do this. It's just like you have these things going on, and we can do this. Well, you have these things going on, and now we've got these things going on, so you can take these things that we right, like it just seems like it seems like just such a really great combo. And I really wish, like, obviously, you know, with Alberta and like all the fuckery that's going on right now with us with this is it gonna be a provincial police force, what's gonna happen to the RCMP, you know, the pissing match that's happening in Grand Prairie between the RCMP and the Grand Prairie Service, and that we know is gonna like come down to other places, like it's just it's so it's just so siloed and so competitive when it doesn't have to be. Like to me, I always kind of thought like as we heard that this was rolling out, like I was like, oh, this is such a bad idea because it's just gonna turn into like a pissing match, which is which it has, mostly because of because of our government. And again, I don't ever go political on this show, but just our government. I just uh a government in general, I just blew it up politics in general. But this model seems much more collaborative, much more logical, seems like it makes more like actual relevant sense in the work that needs to get done without turning it into a competitive process between the two agencies. Like, I just yeah, I I'm really happy to hear that that this is going to be happening for you guys. And so when you are given different responsibilities, like so obviously you took training in the police call in police college, but like when you have these things like, okay, now we're doing warrant apprehension, like, did you have to do more training on top of that to be like, okay, like wow, I have never done a warrant apprehension. I've been doing commercial vehicle and I've been doing traffic enforcement. And I've been like, so is it like I better learn how to do this too?

SPEAKER_02 39:25

Yeah, for sure. There's some training. I'm working with right now a field training officer that's kind of just overseeing a couple of us in North Battleford, making sure that we what we're doing and where we're looking. Uh, but really a lot of it transfers over a lot of the like the programs that we run or different things that we were familiar with with different roles, our different roles, they play into this role as well. So we're able to kind of just get minimal training and hit the ground running, I guess. But yeah, I was working in this area before and North Battlefir was in with my within my area with highway patrol. So that's nothing new either. I know the area, I know the city quite well. And yeah, we're we're branching out and just right now, it's a lot about being seen and and going to communities and finding out what their needs are and what their expectations are, and where again, where can we help? What can we do? How can we support you? And just honestly trying to compliment the RCMP and the and the job that they're doing at the same time as following our mandate and figuring out what we're doing day to day.

SPEAKER_01 40:40

Yeah, well, and then again, still working with Saskatchewan Highway Patrol probably on some stuff. Yeah, yeah, right. Like I mean, and it is. And so did the marshal, because you guys also have sheriffs, do you not have Saskatchewan sheriffs?

SPEAKER_02 40:53

Yeah, we have sheriffs, but our sheriffs are mostly in the court system, so they're doing their court sheriffs as far as I'm aware. So we do some training alongside them, or did and probably will continue to. So yeah, we do have sheriffs and marshals and highway patrol and then police officers. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:13

I was gonna say, because I've done fitness testing for Saskatchewan sheriffs for the soap, uh the soap that you had to run. And so I was like, I know that they have them, I just don't know what they're doing. But that makes sense, yeah. Courtney sheriffs and prisoner transport, probably, right then too. Yeah, yeah. Okay, very cool. Yeah, I it is there, I mean, again, we talk about all these different agencies, but they're not competing, they're just all supporting, like everybody is just doing the work that needs to get done and supporting one another with it. And I think it's incredible. So I yeah, I'm so excited for what's gonna come for you and these like the totally cool opportunities you're gonna get. And and like you said, you're at you're at the at the ground level, like you're gonna be part of the growth of this service, and to be part of something like that, to be able to mold it the way you want it to be, and to be able to put your little influence and stamp on something like that is it's always such an incredible thing to do. So I'm very excited for you to be able to see where where this goes for you, which is awesome. So yeah. I'm excited too. Okay, well, I want to wrap up because I know you're busy, you got three boys, you got hockey, you got da-da-da-da-da, you got all the things. So I want to wrap up with some rapid fire questions, and I love these ones because they're always fun and they always make me laugh. But the number one question I ask all of my guests is what is your favorite food or snack while you were on shift?

SPEAKER_02 42:36

My well, I just like coffee quite a bit. So my favorite is when I can be in my patrol vehicle and I've got a good coffee there ready to go. But if I was gonna have a snack, I'm quite obsessed with those mangoes. They're like Costco mangoes, the dried mangoes, those dried mangoes. Yeah, they're so good. You get that giant bag, and I have to, yeah. So that's kind of my favorite go-to.

SPEAKER_01 43:03

Yeah, it is delicious. I know. My daughter, every time we go to Costco, my middle, she's like, Mom, how about those mangoes? I'm like, Those mangoes are$15. We and I won't get a single one because she will eat the entire bag. So I'm like, Do you have$15? And she's like, No. I was like, Well, then I guess we don't get any mangoes, and we just keep walking, and she's just like as we walk by them.

SPEAKER_02 43:23

But mom, I hide mine in my pantry, they're deep in a drawer right now. It's yeah, and I only really have one that's interested, but if he finds them, yeah, we fight over these dried mango.

SPEAKER_01 43:36

They're gone. I yeah, I know, I know. If you have boys, I have girls. I can't even imagine the amount of food my girls eat, and then they think I literally have this conversation all the time with my my mom friends of boys. I'm like, I am complaining over here about my three girls. I don't understand how you are feeding teenage boys in a house and not being bankrupt. Like, how does that happen?

SPEAKER_02 43:56

Yeah, they eat a lot of food, they pack that away like it's nobody's business, and the meat that they can consume, or I have these these muffins and they've just been walking into the kitchen and they're half gone.

SPEAKER_01 44:09

Sorry, you said your husband owns a farm, or you guys are on a farm?

SPEAKER_02 44:12

Uh no, we're on an acreage, yeah. And he's a heavy-duty mechanic and owns a business in Lloydminster.

SPEAKER_01 44:18

Yeah. Okay, okay, okay, cool. I love that. Okay, so the number two question I have for you is what is your favorite location that you've been able to go to for work or work out of?

SPEAKER_02 44:33

Well, I think uh oh, that's a tough one. I am really liking where I am right now. It's a really busy place, and I think that the community and surrounding communities around North Battleford need some attention. And I'm really excited to provide that or help and play a role in that. But honestly, St. Paul was one of my favorites. I had a lot of fun. I learned a lot and I grew so much. And that was one of my favorites for sure.

SPEAKER_01 45:01

Yeah, the UFO for our listeners that aren't from Canada or Alberta have no idea what we're talking about. There's a UFO landing pad in St. Paul, Alberta that you can go and have your picture taken with.

SPEAKER_02 45:11

It's one of those, yeah, artifacts or whatever. Yeah. Yeah.

unknown 45:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:16

Incredible. Okay. And then the last question I have for you is what is a piece of advice that you would give to somebody that's looking to maybe kind of venture into this side of the career? Because I think you come at it from such a different side of things, having gone commercial vehicle and then highway patrol and then into this martial service, but what what's something that you would say to somebody?

SPEAKER_02 45:37

Well, honestly, yeah, like it's it's a it can be a long road and you have to be able to adapt and change and shift directions. And you may have to take a little break and get back into it. And that might mean starting from scratch. But even if you are, you know, starting something new, you can you're not starting it naive. You know, you're gonna take all your experiences that you've had with life experiences or work experience, and you're gonna bring it into your new role. So uh like don't be afraid to to to do that, to shift and move and and change and take the training and set the goals and fight for them and be aggressive and like really fight for the things that you want. Especially as like women, we you know we have like different things. We're we're we have to approach it from a different angle. You run the risk of like you can be compassionate and you can be uh feel all the feelings, but then still be really solid at your job and and show up and and be a good partner and be a good police officer and be a good community member, like you can wear all the hats and be good at many things.

SPEAKER_01 46:57

I don't uh that is awesome. That is, and it's such a good because like again, you did you went back at 40, right? And like a lot of women, I think would have made the choice that like even though they wanted to do it, right? Like, oh, I still have that bug, you know, I still had that like desire. A lot of women don't act on it because we second guess ourselves and we say, Well, I'm too old, or like, oh, I couldn't do that, or like I don't want to go back and be like the brookie and be the new person. And and but on the other side of all of that doubt and uncertainty is a totally fucking rad new opportunity and a super cool career that if you didn't take the leap, if you didn't get a little bit vulnerable and like, but but also like you said, put the work in because you gotta put the work in, you wouldn't get. And so, like, I yeah, I think you summed it up great. Like, do it, do the thing, do the thing that scares you and and go out there because it's incredible what you can do when you put your mind to it and when you take a risk and you actually and you actually give her. So I love that. I think that's phenomenal and a great piece of advice. So yeah, to any of our listeners, she just mic dropped it, guys. She just told you it doesn't matter how old you are, it doesn't matter where you're coming to it from, like, get out there and do it because it's super cool and there's super cool opportunities. Which actually are that Marshalls hiring right now? Like, is there an open posting out?

SPEAKER_02 48:21

Uh, there's kind of a there a lot, a lot of postings. I don't know if there's one specifically out right now or if it might have just closed. Like I say, we have two in police college, but it is there's lots of postings constantly. So if they want to just, yeah, honestly, Sask gov jobs and they can follow it there. And if it's a experienced officer or brand new officer ready to go to police college, uh, it's it would be a great thing to pursue.

SPEAKER_01 48:53

Okay, excellent. I will be putting information in the show notes, guys. If this is something that you were interested in, if you never even heard of this service and now are like, what the fuck? So Catherine has a marshal service? Now you know. Now you know, come to this podcast and get all the latest pee and the hot goss here because we know what's going on in the law enforcement community. If you like this episode, guys, if you were totally enthralled with Gene like I was and all of the cool things she did, call your friends right now. Tell them you listened to this amazing podcast and you had this a phenomenal education piece while you were doing something, cleaning your house, driving your car, working out, whatever it was that you were doing. Go tell your friends about this podcast because I think I learned a frickload in this episode. Thank you for taking the time. Thanks for coming on the show. Thank you for sharing all of the amazing things that you do. Best of luck in moving forward with the Marshalls because, like I said, I think there's an incredible future ahead of you in this career, and I can't wait. I'll have to touch base with you in like a year and be like, girl, tell me what's up, tell me how it's going, fill me in, and we'll have you back on the show because I think, yeah, I think even within a year, there's gonna be incredible changes. So, any last words for our listeners? Uh no.

SPEAKER_02 50:03

Thanks for having me. I appreciate the that we finally connected and we finally made this happen. And yeah, I look forward to talking to you again. And and yeah, if anybody wants to reach out to me, you know, look me up and I'll answer, or you can go through you and get a hold of me. And I don't mind telling you everything I know.

SPEAKER_01 50:21

Love that. Love that. All right, you go have an amazing rest of your day. Enjoy the time with your kiddos and uh stay safe out there. Thanks. Take care.

SPEAKER_00 50:38

Well, that's it for today, folks. Thanks so much for tuning in, listening, giving me your time, your energy, and your attention. I completely appreciate it. Make sure you check out our next episode with another badass female first responder, anywhere you get your favorite podcasts. And follow us on Instagram and Facebook at blue linefitness testing.com. I hope you stay safe, keep your head on a swivel, and watch your sticks.