CPS Member Spotlight On Sergeant Janice MacDonald
written by JaimeKristal Lott
Sergeant MacDonald, a Northumberland local, never contemplated becoming a police officer until after several years in social services. She had been employed at Warkworth Penitentiary helping inmates through their release program and later was with Trent Community Correctional Committee assisting at-risk teens in Quinte West. She also took four years off to become a mom.
Though she loved social work, when her children started school, Sergeant MacDonald’s career changed directions. On a whim, she went for her Applicant Testing Services (ATS) certificate and applied for a position in policing. The Sergeant had met a lot of police officers in her previous social work and felt becoming a cop herself would allow her to be a part of people’s life stories in a different way she had not had the opportunity to be before.
To be admitted into the Ontario Police College you need to be offered a job first and, much to her surprise, Sergeant MacDonald was hired right away by Cobourg Police Services (CPS) to be a constable. While males did outnumber the females at the college there was a near equal representation in her classes. Not that it made a difference when it came to training. No matter race, gender, or physical abilities everyone was held to the same standards in order to graduate.
“If you asked me ten years ago if I would be here now, I would have said no. But having done so many things and having worked in so many fields, I feel like they were stepping stones to get me to where I am. Honestly, if I had been offered the job at twenty-one or twenty-two, I don’t know that I would be the officer I am today. I think the other things I did along the way prepared me for what I do now.”
After just seven years on the force, Janice MacDonald was promoted to Sergeant —making her the second woman to attain the position at Cobourg Police Service. As a road sergeant she does everything a constable would, responding to calls to making arrests, but also supervising a platoon made up of four constables and being the one to make decisions in any situation they face. The Sergeant says the best part about her current role is that it allows her a greater opportunity to help others.
When asked if she intended to keep rising through the ranks to become the first female Staff Sergeant*, she said she is happy where she is because she loves being able to interact with people and have a positive influence in their lives. Though, she also said she takes each day as it comes and does not know what the future holds.
In her past nine years of police work, Sergeant MacDonald has done some amazing things for the community. First, she founded the Northumberland Human Trafficking Response Committee back in 2018. After seeing a need in their region to support victims of human trafficking, she applied for a grant and then hired a coordinator to help get this unit off the ground. There was a lot of support in the community and, eventually, Sergeant MacDonald stepped back to a less active role so others would have the opportunity to lead.
Not that this left Sergeant MacDonald with a lot of free time. She is currently focused on what Chief Paul VandeGraaf calls “Keep Us Close”, an ideology developed in response to the rise of homelessness and drug addictions in Cobourg. The goal is to raise awareness, offer support, end drug trafficking, as well as bring the level of homeless in the area down to zero. This ideology has since developed into a summer pilot program called HARP —Homeless Addiction Resource Project.
But that is not all! Sergeant MacDonald is also on the Board of Directors with Community Living West Northumberland (CLWN). This non-profit charitable organization provides support for people with special needs, particularly intellectual disabilities. Through this group, Sergeant MacDonald is involved with a baseball team called “Benchwarmers” made up of local police officers. She helps organize the games played by CLWN and Benchwarmers, which are held in an effort to help break down barriers.
Even under the best circumstances cops can be intimidating and, because CPS does not deal with this particular sector of the population very often, interacting with officers can feel overwhelming for those in times of crisis. To help officers better understand how to behave and allow these members of the community feel more comfortable with those in uniform, this group of athletes competes against CPS each year in an annual baseball game.
Though Sergeant MacDonald clearly cares about her community, she loves her family even more. The knowledge her sons are proud of what she does and having their support is what helps her get through each day, no matter how rough. Staying connected with family can make a difference when it comes to mental health, and Sergeant MacDonald even took up snowboarding so she could share a hobby with her children. Though she reports that her first experience on the slopes was a disaster, she is happy to have progressed to the point where her teenage son is not embarrassed to hang out with her.
Though it is not easy being a single mom and a police officer, Sergeant MacDonald is proof that it is possible when you have a good support system in place. She even feels being a mom gives her an advantage, particularly when helping child victims feel more comfortable in scary situations. When it comes to women in policing, Sergeant MacDonald believes they have an important role to play and she hopes to lay the foundation that will inspire other females to become officers and move up through the ranks as well.
“Every day is about moving to better. We see things and know we cannot fix it today and we know we cannot fix it tomorrow, but every day we are taking little steps to achieve better.”
*In 2013, Sergeant Nancy Saunders was Acting Staff Sergeant at CPS for six months