NANCY DURHAM:
Bobby pinned: a prospective policeman's terms of engagement
British police officer, lured by Calgary recruiters, brings experience and a fiancé to Canada
December 20, 2006
In Oct. 2006, Calgary sent a police team to scour the U.K. — not for criminals — but for experienced British bobbies who want to move to Canada.
Boomtown Calgary needs more police to meet the needs of a rapidly growing city.
New recruits lured by Canada's Rocky Mountains won't be the first Brits on the force. Const. Stewart O'Neill of the Calgary Police Service left London three years ago. He's a walking, talking advertisement for the CPS.
"Most Canadians seem to live like kings and don't realize it in comparison to your average British lower to middle income type person … now, I have a house that's three times the size. It's four bedrooms, detached, overlooks the Rocky Mountains and I'm on the back of a golf course. There's no comparison."
The culture shock is not as pronounced in law enforcement as it might be in other fields.
Canadian law and rules of evidence are similar to Britain's, the connection between Canada and Britain remains strong and the bobby with his domed hat (and it is only the men who wear it) is a friendly figure. British police are unarmed — with a few exceptions — and in London you're more likely to see a bobby giving directions than writing a ticket.
PC Lewis Hastie, five years with the London Metropolitan Police, fell under Alberta's spell in September when he visited the province with his girlfriend, Candyce Webb. When the CPS visited London in October 2006, he wrote Calgary's four-hour exam marathon in London.
London police constable Lewis Hastie and girlfriend Candyce Webb visit the Rockies, September 2006
"The first test we did was the English test and after looking through that I actually wondered if I did speak English because it was quite difficult. Take the word "equity." Hastie explains it usually means "the equity you would get in your house … there wasn't anything that resembled that so that was probably wrong." Calgary police were thinking more along the lines of "equality and fairness."
I was with Hastie when he and Webb got the news of his test results by phone from Canada. He was nervous but didn't need to be. He scored high marks across the board, making him one of 160 British bobbies who had passed the first round of tests.
Candyce Webb canoes on Lake Louise, Alta, September 2006
To celebrate, the couple went to lunch at a country manor house in Essex. Afterwards, they walked in the garden, which is where Lewis Hastie, on one knee, proposed to Candyce Webb. She agreed to marry him. He slipped a diamond ring on her finger and produced a bottle of champagne he had hidden behind a rose bush.
On Dec. 9, Hastie returned to Calgary for round two of testing: an interview before a panel, a polygraph and a fitness test. He passed them all.
Lewis Hastie surveys Calgary's panorama, September 2006
"It was a stressful week … we had it boom boom boom … the polygraph obviously was different because I've never done one before. I suppose it makes you feel guilty in a way even though you've got nothing to hide. Is this machine going to tell people you're telling lies or telling the truth? It's not the nicest experience. I'd rather go for a ten-mile run."
And there's more to come. In the new year, Hastie will get the results of his psychology test; after that the CPS will carry out background checks. Finally, there is Canadian immigration to clear but with fast-track service Mr. and Mrs Hastie — they plan to marry in late April — could be setting up house in Calgary by summer 2007.
I asked PC Hastie whether he had noticed anything special on his recent trip to Alberta. He told me, laughing: "I just remember I really liked Tim Hortons chili and garlic toast. And we went to a Flames game. We lost."
He's already talking like a Calgarian. "Oh yes, you've got to support the local teams," he asserts.
ABOUT THIS AUTHOR
Biography
Nancy Durham is a CBC Television and Radio correspondent based in London. For the past two decades she's been sending stories to Canada from across Europe, Central Asia, China and Africa.
She began her CBC career in 1976 as a roving radio reporter with Metro Morning in Toronto. In 1979 she became co-host of Information Morning in Fredericton. In 1981 she returned to Toronto to join the CBC Radio newsroom. In 1984 Durham moved to the UK continuing to report for CBC Radio. She also became a regular contributor to the BBC. During this time she covered revolution and war as Europe's communist regimes fell, and its borders were redrawn.
