Human is planning to stay active in the community after retirement
Cst. Paul Human has been the community policing officer in our region for many years now. He’s officially announcing his retirement after 25 years of service with the RCMP, early next month, but he’s got no plans to slow down and still intends to serve the community.
Human will have served 16 years with Selkirk’s RCMP detachment, but he actually started his career in the Lac du Bonnet RCMP Detachment.
“I started in Lac du Bonnet, Pinawa, and Whitemouth. That’s where I learned how to cut my teeth in the RCMP. It was very busy from May Long until Thanksgiving, and then the population just went away. It was rural policing, but also urban at the same time, because we were dealing with the majority of Winnipeg that came into the Whiteshell. It was vast. It was really big. We had a large area that we contained, and this is the days before, we didn’t have cell phones. We did all our notes on paper,” said Human.
He explained that, as a young officer without the GPS technology that we have now, learning where you were in a large area sometimes meant not exactly knowing where you were all the time.
“I remember I was in Lac du Bonnet, and I’d gone to a call, and I was coming back, and I got totally lost. I remember calling the office, and they were saying, ‘Well, where are you?’ And this is right from The Simpsons. I said, ‘I’m under the sun right now’,” he said with a laugh.
Luckily, with many of Manitoba’s roads on a grid system, the officer on dispatch advised him to find a road and then keep going until he found his way back.
On a more serious note, Human was on duty when Constable Dennis Strongquill was tragically killed in 2001.
“It was my first year of policing, and it was the very first time that I’ve ever (heard) our radio systems do a province-wide announcement. I remember I was driving just outside of Lac du Bonnet, and I remember pulling over to the side of the road, because this was important. I’ve never heard it before, when our radio operator states 201 and it’s province-wide. That really shook me to the core quite a bit. And then to participate in, we worked barricades, and if there was anything that the detachment could do, we did it. It was really scary. Policing, (I) always wanted to make a difference, but this hammered home, one of us has been killed on the line of duty,” said Human.
After working in Lac du Bonnet, Human and his family moved to Thompson, and he was with the RCMP there for five years. Human and his wife Tammy, were raising three kids at the time, and he also went into forensics for a year and a half.
“It was the CSI boom at that time. If you remember the first CSI that came out, you know, it really romances what forensics looks like. After I left forensics, I actually did a presentation for kids, so they could see that what happens on TV doesn’t really happen in the real world,” he said.
He credits his wife for keeping their family life together at this time, as he was all over the north working homicides, and she took care of everything at home while he pursued this aspect of his career.
Human then moved to Selkirk, working general duty and, having had a taste of community policing when going into some of the schools in Thompson, took the community policing job when it came up.
He feels that community policing is very important in connecting police officers and people in the region. Human said that it’s all about engagement and sitting down and talking to people about everyday things.
“I think my job in community policing is just kind of being that bridge to be able to explain to people what we do, because to a lot of people, there’s a lot of hidden questions there,” he said.
As for the past 25 years, he’s noticed a pretty big shift in police work, particularly the technology.
“All of our cars now have computers in them. All of our cars now have printers in them. Most members, if they’re investigational, wear a live camera. All of our newest vehicles that are coming out now have cameras inside, which means things can be recorded inside the vehicle. If somebody’s taken into custody, everything is recorded. I think that’s the biggest change that I’ve seen in policing and in the world itself. I remember when we came here 16 years ago, if something bad would have happened in Selkirk, and if the bad person decided to drive a vehicle down the main drag, well, we could probably get footage from Petro-Can or maybe a couple other businesses. Now these days, I don’t think you can go 30 feet in town without being recorded by something. The introduction of social media and the internet has changed the world,” said Human.
With his retirement, Human is planning a new adventure. He felt a calling and is going to be a Deacon with the Catholic Church.
“Being a Deacon is being a representative of the Catholic Church in the community and being able to bring those stories of the community back to the church. It’s being able to share the good stories. We can talk theology, and we can talk Bible, and we can talk the stories of Jesus and the gospel and stuff like that. But that stuff’s happening today, and it’s happening with people. There are lots of good stories out there, you’ve just got to go out and find them,” said Human.
He, of course, volunteers quite a bit in the community and intends to continue to work with the cadets in Selkirk for at least another year. The soup kitchen has also told him that he’s not allowed to leave them.
“There’s still work to be done. There’s always work to be done. It’s just now it’s more of a volunteer mode, and that’s fine,” he said.
In his unique position as an avid volunteer, community police officer and community member, Human has some advice for anyone wanting to work to make our community a great place to live.
“I think if all of us at least spent 20 per cent of our time being active with our community, it would grow amazingly. I’m not saying for people to be a part of everything, but grab something and make it grow, whether that be recreational, whether that be the library, whether that be school systems, whether it be hospitals, or volunteer. I’m going to enjoy being an empty nester with my wife and volunteering in this community, and I think if you could just give a little bit of your time, you’d be amazed at how much this community would grow.” he said.
Human invites residents in Selkirk to join him in celebrating his retirement and next steps in a few local celebrations. On June 28, he and his family are inviting everyone to the Selkirk Legion for a come and go event with cake and coffee to celebrate his new vocation as Reverend Mr. Paul Human. You are also welcome to join the parish community as Deacon Paul shares his first homilies as an ordained minister on June 27 at 5 p.m. at the Notre Dame Parish in Selkirk, and on June 28 at 9 a.m. at St. Anne’s Parish in Petersfield, before he returns again to the Notre Dame Parish in Selkirk for 11 a.m. on the same day. If you would like to witness the ordination of Human to the Sacred Order of the Diaconate, it’s open to all and takes place on June 26 at 7:30 p.m. at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Winnipeg. The gift of your presence will mean a lot to Human, and no additional gifts are needed. However, for those wishing to offer a token of celebration, any monetary gifts will be used towards a future devotional visit to Rome.
