Lasalle Police Service swears in first female sergeant

Sgt. Corrine Brun (centre) poses with LaSalle Police Chief Duncan Davies (right) and Deputy Chief Jason Woods on Jan. 15, 2024. (Travis Fortnum/CTV News Windsor)

Monday night’s meeting of the LaSalle Police Services Board saw history made, with the promotion of the first female sergeant in the service’s history.

Senior Const. Corrine Brun was awarded her 20-year Exemplary Service Medal – and then she was promoted to sergeant.

Brun said it was all a little overwhelming, “I prepared for this for a long time now and I knew this day was coming for the past month, but I've been filled with a lot of emotions today,” she told CTV News.

Brun grew up in the LaSalle area but got started her law enforcement career as a 21-year-old officer with the Waterloo Regional Police.

 

The path to sergeant

In remarks before the board Monday, Brun described her move to Kitchener for that job as a lonely time.

“During difficult or stressful times, I often engage in positive self talk,” Brun said. “Lets just say with nobody around me, there was a lot of self talk going on.”

A little over a year later, Brun’s mom called her to say she saw the LaSalle Police Service was hiring officers.

She took her daughter’s resume into the station herself – not long after Brun was home working as an officer in the community she grew up in.

“I've had an opportunity to meet a lot of people,” Brun said. “I've been able to share my own personal experiences and journeys with everyone and I take honor to see people grow and change and develop from certain situations.”

 

Trapped in the middle

Brun got married, had kids and settled down in LaSalle, but said she started feeling stuck and overlooked at work.

As a senior constable, she watched as officers with less experience than her got promoted over her.

“Within the service structure I was trapped in the middle, kind of like the middle child,” said Brun.

She said she had many tearful conversations with her sergeants, one of whom is now chief.

“And at a time when I truly believed I was screaming from inside a glass box and no one could hear me, Sgt. [Duncan] Davies and Sgt. [Nawzad] Sinjari spoke up and created change on my behalf,” Brun recalled.

The historic nature of Brun’s promotion was not mentioned during Monday’s meeting.

No members of the police service nor the police service board spoke to the fact that she was the first woman to reach the rank since the service was established in 1991 – though the fact was confirmed to CTV News.

Brun said it’s hard to believe she’s the first.

“I've worked in this position a long time,” she said. “But I've also worked with other females. Females with more seniority than me and females that were very competent in their knowledge, skills and abilities to hold this position. “At any time they could have easily been the first female sergeant, but everyone has a road a path and my path has led me here today, so I'm very happy."