UNITY – After a 13-year posting at Unity’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police detachment, Sergeant Grant Rusk has made his final radio sign-off.
Rusk, who was the Sgt. Detachment Commander for the Unity detachment, had always wanted to be a police officer while growing up in rural Saskatchewan. After high school, Rusk was considering the profession, however there were some roadblocks for the young man.
“I had always appreciated the work the RCMP did in small communities but at the time they [the RCMP] were not hiring white males that didn’t speak French or have a degree,” said Rusk.
Albeit a bit discouraged, Rusk still wanted to help make an impact on other’s lives. He attended university, gaining a Bachelor of Education degree in Biology and English. He substituted around Prince Albert for a while before being hired on full-time on the Cote First Nation school near Kamsack.
“While I was teaching on Cote FN, I got to know some of the Kamsack RCMP members very well, even doing some ride-alongs with them. The work of the members intrigued me, so I applied to the RCMP in 1996 and was invited to attend Depot following the end of the 1996-97 school year,” said Rusk.
While teaching, Rusk met an Emergency Medical Technician with the Duck Mountain Ambulance Service named Laura. Their relationship blossomed over a short period of time, from meeting in 1996 to being engaged in 1997, just prior to Rusk going to Depot. A short year later, Rusk and Laura were married in Yorkton, where Laura had grown up.
With the possibility of being posted anywhere in Canada, Rusk was posted to the Battlefords detachment. He worked general duties in North Battleford from 1998 to 2002 before moving to a plain-clothes General Investigation Section, focusing on drug trafficking, robbery investigations and other serious crimes.
In 2005, Rusk was transferred to Melville. He was only there for six months before being promoted to corporal in Lloydminster in 2006.
“I was a platoon supervisor in Lloydminster as part of F Division (Saskatchewan) from 2006 to 2008. When K Division (Alberta) took over management of Lloydminster, I was placed in charge of operations of the detachment from April 2009 until I was promoted again to Sgt. Detachment Commander in Unity in June 2010,” said Rusk.
The decision to move to Unity was not only for Rusk’s benefit, but also for his family’s.
“My spouse and I had worked in some busy/ dangerous posts and wanted somewhere where our family could grow up and not be negatively impacted by the types of work Laura and I did,” said the retired sergeant.
With Laura moving from the emergency medical profession to working in the North Battleford Correctional Centre, the Rusk family knew Unity was a good fit for them overall.
“I was offered a command in Alberta as well as asked to promote and leave the community on multiple occasions, but because we had established our roots here and Laura’s growing career, we would have had to give up something we did not believe any promotion would be worth,” explained Rusk.
While being a part of a smaller community has had its advantages for the family of six, there have also been challenges.
“Unity is small enough that everyone knows everyone else and generally knows what is happening in the rest of the community. It also means that my kids were always known as the sergeant’s kids first and not as individuals,” stated Rusk.
He also said being a sergeant’s child has challenged all four of his children to be on their best behaviour as they have a whole community watching their actions.
“I am sure there have been moments my children wished I did something else career-wise that did not put them under so much scrutiny,” he added.
As Rusk reflected over his 26 plus years of service, he did say each posting should teach a member something.
“Battlefords taught me how to do criminal investigations, quickly and as effectively as possible. In Melville, I was taught that rural policing provided unique challenges, as you can travel 160 km between two calls and be the only member working in the area.
“Lloydminster taught me the various processes. It is unique as it is almost as busy as Battleford but being a border city, each province has their own court and provincial laws, as well as separate judges, prosecutors, Legal Aid and defence counsel,” said Rusk.
He added that in the case of a collision, determining which side of the intersection the accident took place could easily change which courts have jurisdiction, along with when and where they go to court.
“I had to rely on my constables to explain the Alberta side of operations to me and demonstrate the different court-compelling processes,” he added.
Throughout his life, Rusk says he has had many mentors, in and out of the RCMP, who have helped him develop his knowledge, skills and abilities.
“Some of the best advice I ever received was to look after your family, as they will look after you, and I have tried to do that,” said Rusk.
With Rusk’s departure from the RCMP, he will miss those who have made the challenges of being a police officer a bit more enjoyable.
“Police work requires a level of teamwork and cooperation to be effective. I have had the privilege to work with many people over the years that I greatly respect. I will miss working with them as part of a team,” said Rusk.
Although Rusk has had some good memories being on the job, there are some aspects he said he or his family will not miss.
“I will not miss the callouts and next of kin notifications after a sudden death and the trauma that it causes. The collision scenes and the sights and smells associated with them as well. I will not miss the sound of ringing phones as police phones are unlike almost any other phone as they never ring when things are going great.
“My family is aware of the dangers and risks police members encounter as we do our job. We witnessed the impact of the on-duty death of Derek Pineo in 2012, who died in a collision with a moose near Wilkie while responding to a call. My children have grown up seeing me get called out to domestic calls, gun complaints, robberies and murders. They will be happy when it is no longer my job to go to work when something horrible happens,” he said.
The weeks leading up to Rusk’s official retirement were busy for not only himself, but for Laura as well. The couple both received Protective Services medals from the Government of Saskatchewan in September and Rusk received his 25-year recognition in October.
As Rusk leaves his last post, he is looking forward to spending more time with his wife Laura and children Emily, Graden, Dawson and Dayne. He does not plan to retire for good, but felt it was time to move on and do something different for a while.
“I want to spend some time working on vehicle restorations, riding my motorcycle and unwinding with friends and family,” he said.
