A Saint John police officer gets to scratch an item off her bucket list this fall when she heads to Australia for the International Association of Women Police annual conference.
Constable Tanya Lawlor was surprised at police headquarters on Monday morning with the announcement that she has been sponspored by the company Axon, which makes law enforcement products, to attend this year’s conference in Cairns from September 17 to the 21.
“It’s an absolute honour and privilege to be recognized by your peers, so, great trip, excited and absolutely had no idea,” says Constable Lawlor.
(Middle: Tanya Lawlor)
Constable Lawlor was the 2016 recipient of the Atlantic Women in Law Enforcement’s officer of the year and she has been nominated for officer of the year at this international conference.
“Women are still the minority in law enforcement in not just Canada, but on the global scale and here in Canada we represent about 20-percent of law enforcement so we are in the minority but when we attend [these types of events] women are in the majority.” says Sergeant Carolyn Nichols, president of AWLE.
“And we really focus on training and development and career development, and we have an annual training conference and we really focus on encouraging women to take on leadership roles like Tanya has in her organization.”
As for how they pulled off the surprise?
“The chief’s office here was of a big help, pretty much all of Tanya’s frends and family were a big help in helping us get here hre and try to keep it hidden,” says Sgt. Nichols.
“It worked,” says Constable Lawlor.
