Meet Constable Heather, our school liaison officer. She has worked for the Vancouver Police Department for 20 years.  She learned how to be a police officer at a police academy.  Then she was a patrol officer by car and mountain bike for 7.5 years.  In her next assignment Constable Heather worked with Youth in trouble for 2.5 years making sure they followed their probation rules. Then Constable Heather was a Collision Investigator for 3.5 years investigating large traffic accidents.  For the next 5 years Constable Heather worked for the Marine Squad and was a police officer by boat.  Now Constable Heather works as a school liaison officer and has for 3 years so far.

Constable Heather wears lots of different equipment to do her job such as a radio, baton, uniform, handcuffs, duty belt, gun with holster, pepper spray, flashlight and bullet magazines (37 bullets in total).

The Vancouver Police have many responsibilities.  They investigate crimes, help at car crashes, respond to 911 calls, transport criminals to jail, inspect vehicles for safety, help people in many different ways and ensure people obey the law.

Constable Heather told us there are 1329 Police Officers, 50 Community Safety Officers, and 87 Traffic Authority Officers working in Vancouver.  There are 3 main police buildings and 10 community police buildings in Vancouver.

We tried on Vancouver Police shirts and practiced standing at attention and saluting.

Thanks for a great visit Constable Heather.  You gave us a lot of interesting information about the kinds of jobs a police officer has and answered many, many, many questions.  Your visit supports our Social Studies unit on Community.