By Kellah Lavoie

Police officer surprised by award

Mar 29, 2011 | 6:32 AM

A Prince Albert police officer is getting a pat on the back.

Sgt. Gwen Kennedy will receive an Excellence in Policing Services Award from the Saskatchewan Association of Chiefs of Police.

“There are a few presented each year … this one is specifically to do with the Shop with a Cop program I brought in last year,” she said.

The program brings police officers and students together to go Christmas shopping. The children are from a handful of different schools — their families might have celebrated without gifts if it wasn’t for the program.

In 2010, each of the 27 children involved were given a $100 gift card for Zellers to buy the gifts.

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They spent the afternoon with their police officer partner and then went back to school to wrap them before taking the gifts home.

“It was really well received by the policing community,” Kennedy said.

She found about the award last Monday morning and when speaking with paNOW she said she was still in “shell shock.”

“That’s not why I did it, the biggest reward for this program is to see these kids and be with the kids and I can’t describe the feeling that you get from that.

“I didn’t expect anything out of it, my reward was working with the kids,” she said.

Kennedy said she was completely surprised by the award and wouldn’t have been able to do it without the Crime Stoppers board.

The award ceremony is Apr. 11 in Prince Albert.

For more see: Shop with a Cop Spreads Chirstmas Cheer

klavoie@panow.com