2016 OPA TA Sweet Award Winner:
LORNA BRUCE
S
ergeant Lorna Bruce has been a member of the London Police Service for 30 years.
During her time with the London Police Lorna has divided her time between uniformed patrol and the Criminal Investigation Division.
Lorna is respected for her crisis negotiating experience and skills, and after being promoted to sergeant in 1997 she became the London Police Crisis Negotiator Unit Supervisor. Lorna recognized the importance of having a mental health professional assigned to the team and established a partnership with Regional Mental Health Care (now Parkwood Institute). This partnership involved a psychiatrist attending crisis callouts along with the police. During this time she and her team de-escalated many high risk incidents, preventing serious injury and deaths within the community.
In 2005, in response to the Robert Pickton case in Vancouver, Lorna developed a new approach in reaching out to street level sex workers in London. The Persons at Risk (PAR) program was initiated, and for 11 years, Lorna has engaged community partners, clients, police officers, health professionals, politicians, media and the community in a proactive and collaborative way to ensure this vulnerable population has a comprehensive program to address their needs.
Lorna currently tracks and engages 150 women who are working the streets of London. Through her work Lorna has developed partnerships with London Intercommunity Health Centre and St. Joseph’s Health Centre Parkwood Institute’s Concurrent Disorders Program. These crucial partnerships provide medical and mental health outreach to the women in order to address their health, mental health and addiction issues. As a result of this collaboration 39 women have been successfully guided out of the sex trade and the cycle of addiction. Through this team approach the women have been able to leave behind high-risk, destructive lifestyles and become housed, employed, reconnected with family and return to school.
Lorna continues her work in this area and is advising on the London Community Plan Regarding Street Level Women at Risk, which proposes housing with support for this vulnerable population.
To learn more about the remarkable work Lorna Bruce does in her community please click on the following links:
http://www.lfpress.com/2015/06/21/they-got-away-now-they-help-get-others-out
http://www.lfpress.com/2014/01/24/one-former-sex-trade-worker-fighting-to-stay-clean-and-straight
