Skip to content

Lakeland RCMP officer closes file on 31-year career

"You don't become a member of the RCMP to change people, you become one to help people." - Brent Sawatzky
Sawatzky Retires from RCMP
RCMP C/Supt. Wendell Reimer, District Officer, Eastern Alberta District, presents S/Sgt. Brent Sawatzky, District Advisory NCO with his retirement pin, plaque and District Challenge Coin. / Photo supplied
LAKELAND - Brent Sawatzky closed the file on a 31-year career with the RCMP last month. Many of those years on the job were spent policing the Lakeland and he doesn’t hesitate to say without any doubt he would do it all over again.

“Absolutely. It had its bumps along the way and things that I will probably never forget and some things I’d like to forget and never will, but overall it was an amazing career. I worked with some of the most fantastic, dedicated people out there.”

Sawatzky shared his love for the RCMP and the Lakeland area during an interview Friday, reflecting on his three-decade long RCMP career and life in the region as being time well spent.

“The pride I had and continue to have as a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police will never leave me, and the fact I was able to spend a large part of my career here in this area has been a bonus.”

His interest in the RCMP began at a very early age while growing up in “small town Saskatchewan” and, by his teen years, Sawatzky knew he wanted to join Canada’s national police force.

His introduction to the force was as a special constable on Oct. 16, 1989 in Saskatoon where he was charged with escorting prisoners around the province and across the country, to and from court. A year later, he began basic recruit training and, in 1991, he was posted to Penticton, BC. From there, in 1996, he was sent to St. Paul and the northeast region of the province was to become Sawatzky’s home from that point on.

“I worked within the town and County of St. Paul for a few months, and then in early 1997 I was transferred to the Saddle Lake Cree Nation where I was assigned duties to both reserves, Saddle Lake and Goodfish Lake.”

Having grown up in Saskatchewan in the heart of the Treaty 6 region, he said his understanding of the First Nation culture served him well and the relationships he developed on the First Nations in this area in those early years of his career have remained constant. He has maintained a lifelong interest in learning more about Indigenous culture and building relationships in the communities.

“If I look back at the fulfillment I’ve gotten and my time spent working with the First Nations, there were so many communities out there where I was able to find my niche, my place with them and I was accepted.” 

By 2000, Sawatzky was back working with the St. Paul general investigation section, which provided specialized policing services to 11 different detachments in the Lakeland area focusing on major crimes.

“That was a good eye-opener for me. I got to learn the whole Lakeland area from that perspective.”

In 2003, he was promoted to corporal and was stationed at the Bonnyville RCMP Detachment in his first supervisory role, which he described as a new and interesting experience. Sawatzky said it was a huge transition that didn’t come with a lot of training and was, for the most part, more a case of learning on the fly. 

“When you take a promotion, you now become a front-line supervisor and so now you are not only taking complaints and doing investigations, but you are also providing on-scene supervision. That whole dynamic changes your work because now you’re not just one of the boys and girls, you’re the supervisor to make sure they all go home safe at night and do their job, and do it well.”

In the ensuing years, Sawatzky served in various capacities with the RCMP, being promoted to the rank of sergeant in 2007 and returning to work with the communities of Saddle Lake and Goodfish Lake.

In 2011, he was transferred to Cold Lake for a three-year stint serving as Operations NCO and then also the detachment commander for a period of time.

“It was a very good crew of people up there and Cold Lake was definitely a very pro police town and so lots of support from the community, so it made my life pretty easy for the most part.”

He received the rank of staff sergeant in 2014 and served out his career at the Eastern Alberta District office based at the St. Paul detachment as one of five advisory NCOs providing administrative and operational support to 26 detachments across the district.

Sawatzky said there have been a number of highlights that stand out when he looks back over his policing career where he feels he made a difference.

“During that time when I was in plain clothes and GIS (general investigation), we did a lot of large investigations that I believe I played a significant role in and in holding people accountable to what happened,” he said.

“When you get into a job like this to serve Canada, to serve Canadians, you work with the best intention every day . . . You go out there to find solutions to problems and to help people. Often there is a solution, often things end tragically – we have to be the one to stand there and pick up the pieces.”

At the end of the day, Sawatzky said working with the RCMP allowed him “to see that people are just people. That is how we treat them and that is where our success comes from.”

What are his words of advice to young recruits?

“First and foremost, what you have to do is come to work every with that good intention and to do the best you can every day . . . I would tell them that you need to be humble . . . You have to accept people for who they are. You don’t become a member of the RCMP to change people, you become one to help people.”

That desire to help and support his community has set the stage for Sawatzky’s next chapter in life. He is not headed for retirement but will remain very much in the policing field, having now taken on a role as the sergeant with the Town of St. Paul’s municipal enforcement program.

 

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks