Turner Valley RCMP’s new staff sergeant had his eye on the community since joining the force. Eleven years later, he’s finally calling it home.
Dwayne Helgeson became Turner Valley’s staff sergeant Aug. 15 and is finding it was the worth wait.
“It’s always been on my list of places I would like to be transferred to,” he said. “It’s the perfect sized detachment where you get to know everybody.”
Helgeson said it was a combination of the outdoor opportunities and proximity to Calgary that attracted him to the quiet little community.
To top it off, just days after joining the detachment he learned it’s a well-oiled machine.
“I’m still learning what the issues and concerns are, but generally speaking this detachment has been doing a fantastic job,” he said. “It’s been a well-run detachment for many years and you can tell.”
The work the detachment has done in Eden Valley impresses Helgeson.
He said the RCMP has a considerable presence in the community, created strong bonds with residents and recently arrested a significant drug dealer.
Speaking with residents in the Black Diamond, Turner Valley and Priddis areas, Helgeson said he’s heard positive comments about the RCMP and sees the issues mainly relating to traffic, crime prevention and suspicious vehicles.
Since he was 12 years old, Helgeson knew he wanted to be an RCMP officer. He was drawn to how well RCMP were respected and the prospect for various roles and travel opportunities.
When he was 19 and ready to apply, the RCMP weren’t accepting applicants so Helgeson joined the Canadian Forces instead.
He was first stationed in Cyprus as the driver for the mayor of the capital city.
Helgeson said the north part of the city was mainly Turkish and the south side was Greek, resulting in a lot of hate, anger and atrocities in the city.
“We kept the two sides separated,” he said. “I got to travel up and down the line every day.”
Years later, Helgeson was stationed in Bosnia under the United Nations.
“We stayed in an old concrete bread factory 40 minutes to an hour outside of Sarajevo,” he said. “It was very primitive. We did a lot of patrolling, outposts and security for a mental hospital. It’s just a different world.”
Helgeson returned a year later to Sarajevo under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
“That’s what solved the problems and stopped the fighting,” he said of NATO. “We controlled what the police did and how things were run.”
In Helgeson’s last two years with the military police, he was stationed at Dundurn, Sask. where he applied to the RCMP and was hired.
Initially stationed at High Prairie, Helgeson was exposed to murders, shootings, stabbings and traffic issues in the busy detachment. Five years later he transferred to Nanton.
“We deliberately picked a quiet, little ranching community for the kids to get into a normalized lifestyle,” he said. “We loved it there.”
Where High Prairie boasted a transient population, Nanton had residents who had been in the community for generations, said Helgeson.
“They were very proud of (the community) and wanted the best for it,” he said. “It makes it very easy for us to make things right.”
After working as a constable for three years in Nanton, Helgeson was promoted to corporal and transferred to Red Deer.
“I wanted to try some city policing just to round it out,” he said. “I’ve always been open to new things… to travel and see different things and get exposed to different jobs.”
Two years later, Helgeson received another promotion and worked as a sergeant in Cape Dorset, Nunavut, an island in the Arctic Ocean that was dubbed one of the most violent communities in Canada.
Helgeson said the RCMP detachment had evacuated due to the violence and he knew he was in for a challenge.
He worked hard to address the violence and have the RCMP viewed in a positive light. In the two years he was in Cape Dorset things changed tremendously.
“The relationship between police and community was much stronger,” he said. “The violence was way down.”
Helgeson then transferred to Iqaluit – a 40-minute plane ride north of Cape Dorset - as a relief sergeant before heading to Grande Prairie where he worked as a municipal operations officer for three years.
The RCMP went through some tough years battling crime and drugs in a community with the highest crime index in Canada.
With the dream of Turner Valley still in his mind, when an opening came up for a staff sergeant earlier this year Helgeson immediately applied.
Now settled into the quieter atmosphere of the Foothills, Helgeson and his wife Kim plan to spend their free time camping and hiking in Kananaskis and the mountains and learning to fly fish.
