Growing up in Portage la Prairie, Paul Human always liked the idea of helping people. Coming from a family of teachers and nurses, the now RCMP Constable in Selkirk spent his much of his 20's doing different jobs in the community before settling on the idea of becoming an RCMP officer.

It took almost 10 years of applying but in the year 2000 it all came together and now, almost 25 years after making that happen, Human says there are four officers in the family. Human was recently honoured with the commanding officer certificate of appreciation award and he talks about what it meant to him.

"I was nominated for my work with RCMP 150. We celebrated 150 years in Canada last year and there were all kinds of events planned across Manitoba. We had regimental balls, barbecues, and things like that. I wanted to do something just a little bit different. I wanted to bring our communities into the detachment. East Selkirk Middle School had done some mural work all through Selkirk and area, and they did an RCMP 150 mural inside of our detachment. It's a 10 foot by 17 foot wall mural on the second floor, and it's fantastic, it tells the entire story of Selkirk and area by including things like churches that were from in that area, there's a picture of the medicine woman that's got all seven teachings on there, including Grandmother Moon, and we actually had we actually did l an explanation sheet that shows what all the drawings mean."

mural

Human added the projects didn't stop there.

"I had an idea with the Riverside quilters. They actually made us a quilt  from for the RCMP 150 banner and for the red parts of the quilt, we actually donated old red surge RCMP uniforms. To win an award, it was pretty cool.  It's just nice to receive recognition for the work that I do in the community. I am very grateful, very, very grateful for the award. But it's my job to show stuff off. I want to be able to do stuff that's for our detachment that's going to be shown off for years after I've retired."

It's no surprise the job has taken the officer all over the province and Human is grateful for all of the experiences.

"My first posting was Lac du Bonnet, which was beautiful and fantastic because we patrolled the Whiteshell. I couldn't believe I was getting paid to drive around on skidoos and be on the boats on the water for my entire time that we were there. Then came an opportunity to move to Thompson, and that's where we were for five years. There, I had an opportunity to do some forensics work and that opened my eyes. But that's where I cut my teeth on what I started doing. I was asked to do a few school presentations on simple stuff like bike safety and things like that. They just asked me to attend and answer questions from the kids. I like to interact with people, and they had all kinds of questions about what it's like to be a cop and what kind of a gun do you carry, what's your scariest call, what's your funniest call, you know, all kinds of stuff like that."

From Thompson, Human moved to where he and his family are now in Selkirk and they've been there since 2010.

"I did a little bit of general duty work, just taking calls on the street. And again, just getting to know the area and stuff like that. Then they have the opportunity to go into community policing, and that's where I just absolutely loved what I was doing. I was in all the schools. I had an opportunity to speak from kindergarten all the way to grade 12 about everything and anything. I did the DARE program and drug awareness. My career has changed so much from writing our files on paper to having laptops inside of our vehicles where we can do so much."

Human spent some time working in Stonewall as a crisis negotiator, but his favourite role is still the community policing position which brought him back to the Selkirk detachment 2 years ago. Now I present about whatever is hot right now, fraud is a big thing. Human is quick to endorse the RCMP as a rewarding career and has this advice for anyone thinking about it.

"People always ask me what do I have to take in high school, what do I take in university to become a police officer, and I tell them the same thing every time, keep learning. I don't care what you're doing. Just keep learning, work with people, volunteer in your communities, meet different people. That's what policing is all about. It's about communication and information. I was a waiter, I was a server, I was a bartender, I worked in kitchens and restaurants and you get to meet people at all different times of the day. Well, welcome to policing. Same thing. I go to somebody's house and they may be having the worst day of the year, and I have to work through what's going on, what's happening in their situation."

The officer is extremely proud of his Metis heritage and plans to complete at least 25 years with the RCMP before retiring and looking at other things, like becoming a Deacon with the Catholic Church. He has already completed 2 of the 4 years of training needed for that. 

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