Cape Breton sergeant honoured for role in mentoring female officers

Sgt. Erin Donovan-Mugford will receive one of six awards handed out this year by Atlantic Women in Law Enforcement for her work in mentoring new recruits.

Back when she started acareer in policing, Donovan-Mugford was among the first group of female officers with the Cape Breton Regional Police Service.

Now a 20-year veteran of the force, she's using her experience to help others.

"Whenwe were going through different maternity benefits, there wasn't anybody that went before us that you could ask those opinions," said Donovan-Mugford.

There were other small hiccups, too. Finding equipment that fit was particularly challenging.

"Before they had only ordered them in particular man sizes," she recalled."We've gotten boots that fit, that come in smaller than size 13 for men. All of those things we've evolved and our department supports us fully."

Work/life balance

One of the biggest challenges for women in policing isfinding balance in their lives, she said.Timemanagement plays a crucial role in making sure officers don't become overwhelmed.

She said when officershead out the door, they are usually gone for 12 hours.

"You come to work and then you deal with a whole house of responsibilities," said themother of two.

"How to be super momand be able to do your job efficiently while you're here, as well."

One of Donovan-Mugford'sdaughters has already expressed a desire tofollow in herfootsteps.

"The four-year-old right now says she wants to be a police officer, so I guess we'll see what happens," said Donovan-Mugford, whoearned a bachelor's degree in community studieswhile carrying out her regular policing duties.

"Right now they think it's very cool ... not quite sure when they become teenagers if they're going to feel the same way."

'Slowbut progressive growth'

Sharon Warren, president of Atlantic Women in Law Enforcement,said policing is still a largely male-dominated profession, but slow gains are being made.

According to recentstatistics, there are roughly 15,000 female police officers in Canada, less than one-third compared to 53,000 male officers.

"There has been a slowbut progressive growth in the number of women in law enforcement, but we're still not where we need to be," Warrensaid.

"We are expected to be a lot of things to a lot of people. There are a lot of challenges with respect to policing in general that's experienced by men and women."

Warren and Donovan-Mugford said having a network of women to discuss topics such as ethics and harassment is paramount.