Manitoba's new top Mountie has done everything from G8 security to domestic calls

Jane MacLatchy was ready for almost anything when she was called to a domestic dispute in Prince George, B.C., at the beginning of her RCMP career — but programming the VCR wasn't on the list.

"You never know how those [calls] are going to go. They can go very badly," MacLatchy, who just became the first female commanding officer of the Manitoba RCMP.

When the 22-year-old MacLatchy arrived at the home, it was apparent there had been "a bit of a fight," with some broken items, but it didn't seem like anyone was hurt.

Turns out the couple was fighting over which television show they should watch.

MacLatchy, spotting a VCR, suggested they record one show and watch the other, then showed them how to do it.

But an hour and a half later she was knocking on their door again because hostilities had apparently resumed.

"There's no fight on," MacLatchy said. "They greet me at the door and say, 'OK, we did what you said … so how do we watch the one we taped now?'"

While MacLatchy related the story as one of her funniest moments in nearly 30 years of policing, it also might be an apt description of her approach to the job.

D Division's first female commanding officer says she believes in talking things out.

"My leadership style is very much reaching out — engagement. I care about people," she told Marcy Markusa of CBC Manitoba's Information Radio this week. "I do my best to take care of them."

MacLatchy, who grew up in Nova Scotia, officially took the reins of the RCMP in Manitoba last week, an achievement she describes as her proudest moment in policing.

If you'd told me 30 years ago that I would achieve the rank of assistant commissioner and be trusted as the commanding officer of a division, I don't know that I would have believed you.- Jane MacLatchy

"If you'd told me 30 years ago that I would achieve the rank of assistant commissioner and be trusted as the commanding officer of a division, I don't know that I would have believed you," she said.

Her postings have varied widely, from co-ordinating federal security for the Vancouver Olympics and the G8 and G20 meetings in Toronto in 2010, to director of the parliamentary protective service in Ottawa, to first being a member and then an instructor for the RCMP Musical Ride, a 32-member group of riders and horses who do choreographed performances.

'I hope to be a role model'

She said her rise shows there is no glass ceiling in an organization that didn't permit women to become officers until 1974 and that has dealt with multiple allegations of sexual harassment in recent years.

"I hope to be a role model for women across the organization," she said, adding that the majority of people she's worked with have been respectful and professional.

"Women can achieve tremendously in this organization."

Her many postings have also taken her to multiple locations across the country, and while this is her first posting in Manitoba, she and her husband grew to love the Prairies when she was posted to Saskatchewan.

"My husband and I just adored the people, adored the culture, the prairies themselves — the landscape," she said.

"The people are so friendly and outgoing and welcoming, and that's the same here in Manitoba as it was in Saskatchewan."

As part of her collaborative approach, she plans to reach out to Manitoba communities and listen to ideas for improving policing.

She mentioned concerns about meth, other addictions and mental health issues, which all feed the drug trade, which "basically exploits those weaknesses."

She also acknowledged policing a wide geographical area that includes many Indigenous communities presents unique challenges.

Policing in Indigenous communities requires particular attention, and she's willing to listen to anyone with ideas for improving RCMP service, she said.

"I look at reconciliation and our goals in achieving that, but it's not something that's going to happen overnight. It's a journey."