ESTEVAN - The newest member of the Estevan Police Service is not a stranger to the community or the municipal policing agency.
Craig Bird has been hired as a constable with the EPS, a little more than two years after he announced his retirement from the force. He had been with the EPS for more than 20 years. His first day back is expected to be Oct. 14.
Bird noted he had a conversation with Police Chief Rich Lowen at a recent retirement function for a member of the EPS. They started talking and through those conversations, Bird said the EPS expressed an interest in his return.
“I was receptive to all of that, and they ended up convincing me that I could come back,” said Bird.
He wasn’t actively pursuing a return to the EPS, but a resumption of his policing career was “in the back of my mind,” he said.
When he retired in 2020, he was a sergeant. Bird will be rejoining the EPS as a constable as part of one of the patrol units.
He knows it will be different serving as a constable than a sergeant.
“I won’t have all of the duties and responsibilities that I had before. I did that role for quite a number of years for the department, so it will be nice to see how the other members who were promoted into those positions are working out,” said Bird.
There will be more flexibility in the role as constable if he wants to be part of specialized sections.
Bird said he didn’t want to leave more than two years ago, but the circumstances of the department at the time caused him to retire.
“It’s nice to still be wanted with the department, so when they struck up the conversation with me, I needed to make sure that I could check off all of my boxes on my end of things, and it worked out well. I decided to jump back into uniform and continue on with my career there,” said Bird.
Prior to retiring, Bird founded the South East Military Museum, which has displays at the Estevan branch of the Royal Canadian Legion and at his home outside of the city. He noted he will continue to operate the museum and will remain involved in other aspects of the community.
Bird noted Lowen was very receptive to Bird’s other interests.
But Bird did have to step down from his role as the deputy sheriff at the Estevan Court House to rejoin the EPS.
The whole dynamic with the EPS has changed since Lowen arrived in September 2021, Bird said.
“Just talking with the other members of the department and some of the things that he has done, there has been quite a number of changes. I’m quite excited to see what all of the changes are, and all of the things that are new. They’ve hired a few new members since I left, so it will be interesting to see and work with all of the new people.”
