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PAGE 2THE CANADIAN STATESMAN, JUNE 27,2001 DURHAM 510 Taunton Rd. E., Oshawa (90S) 571 -5420 4Tnr% Taunton Rd. Rossland Rd. It's about time everyone had a well made car. ALL 2001'S Taunton Rd is READY!....And So Are WE!! must go A full line of cars that don't require a full line of credit RIOS SEPHIA L In 1976, then-Constable Anne Crawford speaks to more than 500 young women who turned out for a career insight day, organized by the University Women's Club. Officer was a first for Durham Region Sergeant retires after 34 years on the beat BY JOE CHIN Staff Writer DURHAM - For many years, Anne Crawford has been a familiar sight at Superior Court of Justice in Whitby. Always with a ready smile and unfailingly unfailingly courteous, she sits at a desk in the lobby, just inside the main doors, directing directing visitors to the various courtrooms. courtrooms. At the end of the month, when Sergeant Crawford retires after 34 years, Durham Region will have lost its very first female officer. Trailblazing wasn't something Anne Crawford deliberately set out to do. "I had never considered policing as a career," career," Sgt. Crawford, now 56, says. "I ' was working as a clerk typist for the old Oshawa Police when 1 was approached by Chief John Jenkins and asked if I was interested in joining the force." Not one to pass up an opportunity, Ms. Crawford soon found herself at the Ontario Police College in Aylmer, the sole female reemit from Durham and one of a handful overall in the province. "I think my class was only the second or third that included women. All the other female trainees were from Metropolitan Metropolitan Toronto," she says. Actually, Ms. Crawford considered herself fortunate to be accepted. As she tells it, she barely made the requirements, requirements, which were more stringent then. "You had to be 5-foot-5 minimum, and I made it by only half an inch!" she says. "I think I've shrunk since then," she laughs. Thus began an eventful three decades that included stints in just about every department the force had to offer, starting out with the youth bureau and going on to intelligence, major crimes and general patrol. "1 guess I came in handy in situations situations that required the presence of a female female officer. My career wasn't typical. I was given great opportunities, for which I'm grateful. There's a lot of stories stories I can tell..." One of the most frightening, Sgt. Crawford says, was the time she was driving along Maiy Street in Oshawa when three young men pulled up beside beside her cruiser, one of them pointing à handgun at her. - "A police officer had just been shot in Oshawa a few days before," she recalls. recalls. "And this happens. I thought, 'Oh boy, Anne, this is it for you!' Purely on reflex I spun the car behind them and somehow managed to stop their vehicle and make an arrest. The staff sergeant on duty at the station couldn't believe it - his jaw dropped when I brought them in!" Then there were the many days spent undercover busting drug dealers and sitting in parks trying to apprehend sex offenders. In 1987, she was named Durham's Police Officer of the Year, and promoted to sergeant two years later. There was never a time, Sgt. Crawford Crawford says, that she felt discriminated against because of gender. "I always received received wonderful support from the men officers. They accepted me as one of their own. I was like their sister," she says. Out on the street, though, Sgt. Crawford continued to be a novelty for many years. One time, responding to a break-and-enter, she was greeted by a woman who insisted on giving her several several large boxes. Finally set straight, the woman was profuse in her apologies, saying she thought Sgt. Crawford was from the Salvation Army. "I didn't know there were lady cops!" she exclaimed. exclaimed. Another time, Sgt. Crawford found herself directing traffic in downtown Oshawa when a transport truck came to a screeching halt almost on the sidewalk. sidewalk. "He said he just about lost control of the truck, lie was so shocked. He said he couldn't believe lie was seeing a tiny female officer out in the middle of the street with her hand up," she recalls. Now, Sgt. Crawford says, there arc about 80 female officers in Durham, comprising about 10 per cent of the force. "It's a good development," she says. "Having a female and male officer work together comes in useful in many, many situations." It may not be too dramatic, dramatic, but Sgt. Crawford says working with youth was the most rewarding part of her career. Over the years, she has visited dozens of schools and spoken to thousands of kids about drugs and safety. "I really- enjoy talking with kids. It's worth it if I can make a difference in the life of just one of them," says Sgt. Crawford, who has never married, though she's quick to add, "I've had ... relationships. relationships. "You can say I gave my life to the job," says Sgt. Crawford, who was bom, a war baby, in Glasgow, Scotland, Scotland, moving to Oshawa with her parents when she was 7- ycars-old. Her engineer dad, who passed away three years ago, found a job at General Motors. A visit to Scotland, where she still has relatives, is on top of her travel itinerary when she puts away her badge for the final lime on June 29. Beyond Beyond travelling, she hasn't got too many retirement plans, she says. "I know I'll get up that first Monday morning and feel very, very strange. For the first lime in more than three decades, I will be a civilian again!" 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