CPS Member Spotlight On Sergeant Marc Bellemare
written by JaimeKristal Lott
Sometimes people become police officers for no other reason than they see a need in their community. At the age of nineteen, Marc Bellemare had just finished training to become a firefighter when the call went out for more cops being required in Ontario. Bellemare returned to school to complete the Police Foundations program, thankfully able to transfer some of his class credits from the firefighting program to policing, and was immediately hired by Toronto Police Services.
This new career path led to one of Bellemare’s most memorable moments: his swearing-in ceremony with Toronto’s then-Chief of Police, Julian Fantino. The Honourable Julian Fantino is well-known for being an officer who worked his way up the ranks of policing to become Chief, being appointed the Commissioner of Ontario Provincial Police, and later retiring to go into politics and becoming a Member of the Parliament of Canada.
However, in time, Bellemare decided he wanted to leave the big city and settle in a smaller town more like where he grew up. Bellemare was born and raised in an area of Northern Ontario where everyone’s first language is actually French —a skill that can sometimes come in handy when working with the public as he does. Cobourg seemed like a nice town with their Police Service offering a great work schedule and known for being supportive of their officers, so Bellemare made the transfer.
Sergeant Bellemare is what is known as a patrol sergeant, with his background being in drug recognition, traffic, and impaired investigations. At CPS he is the Drug Recognition Expert Coordinator and Breathalyser Technician Coordinator, meaning he is the one who organizes annual retraining courses for officers as well as overseeing quality control by ensuring necessary equipment is up-to-date and in working order at all times.
Due to his expertise, Sergeant Bellemare also spent two years as an Instructor at the Ontario Police College. When marijuana became legal in Canada, police officers needed to take a new standard field sobriety training program that teaches signs and symptoms of drug usage along with that of alcohol. A course very much needed to help prevent impaired drivers from being on the road as approximately four Canadians die each day due to impaired driving-relating accidents.
This sergeant is also interested in a different type of driving in his spare time… he loves to golf. When not at work, Sergeant Bellemare can often be found golfing, running, biking and, when permitted, playing hockey or going to the gym. Sergeant Bellemare has even finished in second place, twice, at the World Police & Fire Games. That same love of golf is why he founded a golf camp for vulnerable children between the ages of nine and fourteen.
The camp is in partnership with YMCA Northumberland and takes place at the Cobourg Creek Golf Club. During this summer program, Sergeant Bellemare and his fellow officers teach about things like respect and anti-bullying, as well as fostering a relationship that allows the campers to view officers as more than an authority figure but simply people there to help them find the right path in life.
After twenty years in policing, the sergeant has seen a lot of prospective officers enter the field without knowing what it is the police truly do. His advice is that anyone thinking about entering the service should fully educate themselves because being a cop is nothing like what can be seen on television. For one, half of the job is purely clerical as there are a lot of forms to fill out after making an arrest. The position can be demanding and stressful, and sometimes you see fellow officers lose their life on the job.
Those in police services need to be capable of assessing a situation in mere moments, often having to make split-second decisions. There is a lot of accountability in policing with several government oversights. These investigations can take from six months to a year before a person can possibly be cleared of a complaint. Overall, being an officer can be arduous and even nerve-wracking and a lot of people may eventually realize it is simply not for them. This is not the case for Sergeant Marc Bellemare.
“The main thing we do is solve problems that other people cannot solve… It is not a job where you can play dress-up, you have to be fully invested in what you do.”