Along with firefighter and astronaut - police officer is always among the most popular career aspirations for young people.As we get older, and life goes rolling on, the dreams we had growing up don't always have a chance to come to fruition.Const. Jeff Fry, on the other hand, proved it's never too late to follow one's passion. Fry is one of the most recent additions to the Estevan Police Service. But, the 40-year-old former-Reginan didn't exactly follow the traditional path.After spending 16 years working as an overhead crane operator for Evraz (formerly IPSCO) in Regina, Fry decided to take on a new challenge."I've always wanted to be a police officer," said Fry. "It finally took enough time for me to get into a position where I could leave IPSCO and support my family. It's something that I've always wanted to do."Fry said he became bored of the daily 12-hour grind, working indoors at the steel-mill. Hungry for a more exciting career, Fry began looking for a job that fit with one of his original dreams, and got in touch with the EPS."I was called for an interview down here and I got to know the recruiting officer, Const. Jay Pierson. I had some really good meetings with him and everything hit off well," said Fry.From here, the EPS hired Fry and sent him to complete the 18-week course at the Saskatchewan Police College, located on the University of Regina campus."The course was extremely challenging," said Fry. "Not only for a 40-year-old, but for everyone in terms of the physical and mental part of it.""It took me a few years to get my priorities in a row and to get my body into shape, because if you show up at the college out of shape you're not going to do very well."During the four-month course, Fry said he and the other students spent time in the classroom, working on the theoretical part of the job, as well as in the gym, further preparing themselves for the physical demands of the job."We did a lot of gym time, lots of weight-training, lots of cardio. And then we got into tactical and defence training which gave us the basics to help protect ourselves and to protect others."The added preparation and protection on the police force was another selling point when it came to leaving Evraz."It was not a clean atmosphere at Evraz, it was dangerous. Anybody who works in the industrial field knows what kind of atmosphere it is," said Fry. "Accidents can happen without you even knowing what was going on."Law enforcement isn't exactly free of its occupational hazards though, especially when dealing with potentially dangerous offenders."The danger that one faces in the industrial setting is a lot of unpredictability with what you're working with," said Fry. "But out here, I'm 40-years-old, I think I can read people not too bad. We take precautions to protect ourselves and at least here we have the chance to analyze the situation and make some decisions."Fry said his fellow officers have also been very supportive and helpful through his first couple of months on the job.The learning curve has been very steep though, Fry said, moving from theoretical situations in college to actual real-world police-work, but this hasn't taken away from the charm."So far everything's been going super. I made an arrest on warrants my first day - it was very exciting," Fry laughed."I get to be out and about in the community - I get to meet people - it's new every day," said Fry. "That's the exciting part to me, because new challenges are what I really needed. It was just stagnant where I was."The variety of the experience is owed, in part, to being a member of a small police force."In this force I get to do everything," said Fry. "I go right from patrolling the streets, to doing traffic, to making arrests, booking in, finger-printing, releasing - everything. So, it's a good, broad experience."Fry and his family recently took possession of a house in the city and are now finally getting settled into their new community.Fry said his wife Deana has been very supportive of his career move, and his two sons, Ryan and Connor are happy to be living in a new city.The kids are especially excited about living so close to the U.S. border."They really think that it will be neat to drive across the border and stay at a hotel in Minot," Fry laughed.
