Huron Expositor, 2007-09-12, Page 2Page 2 The Huron Expositor • September 12, 2007
News
New Huron OPP community services officer
looking forward to working with kids
Aaron Jack 1 i n
Students all over the county are
having brushes with the law this
week, but they're not in trouble.
They're meeting Huron OPP's new
media relations and community ser-
vices officer Joanna Van Mierlo as
she comes to their schools for every-
thing from bus safety to drug educa-
tion to talks about drinking and dri-
v "My former partner calls me the
kiddy cop now," Const. Van Mierlo
said in an interview last Thursday.
Van Mierlo has been with the
Huron OPP since becoming a police
Council wants
quick response
to computer
breakdowns
A request for a new $4,210 com-
puter system server for Huron East
led to concern at council's Sept. 4
meeting that administration be
given the power to replace vital
equipment immediately.
Deputy -Clerk Brad Knight told
council that the current server,
installed shortly after amalgamation
seven years ago, had a failing hard
drive recently.
"We had been fortunate that when
the system was rebooted, it came
back up. If the server with our main
drive goes down, we lose access to
virtually all of our electronic
records," said Knight in his report.
Knight said he'd originally
planned to ask council to replace the
server in the 2008 budget.
"It's starting to fail a little bit and
we don't feel we can wait any
longer," he said.
Deputy -Mayor Bernie MacLellan
said administration was lucky it got
the system to come up again.
"If the system is down, it needs to
be replaced or fixed. With situations
like that, staff should be permitted
to go ahead and get the work done,"
said MacLellan, adding that they
shouldn't have to wait for the next
council meeting to replace an inte-
gral piece of equipment.
"We can't put the girls (the office
staff) back on a typewriter," he said.
Knight said the computer system
is currently backed up once a week
but the new system, which is "twice
as much server for half the price,"
will back up the information daily.
"A week's loss is a frightening
thought," said Brussels Coun. David
Blaney.
By Susan Hundertmark
Huron OPP Const. Joanna Van Mierlo
officer in 1995.
Until recently she's been a techni-
cal collision investigator.
"For lack of a better term, we're
the CSI of collision investigation,"
she said.
She found the work fascinating,
though gruesome.
"You see the worst of the worst,"
she said of trying to piece together
what happened in serious accidents.
While she's still considered a tech-
nical collision investigator, her pri-
ority now is media relations and
community services. She recently
took over the role from
Const. Jeff Walraven.
"I needed a change,"
she said of her decision to
compete for the position,
noting that being a police
officer is often a thankless
job.
"People don't always
like us," she said. "We're
not firefighters. The
names you get called in
this business over the
years would curl your
hair."
She's looking forward
to the new role, especially
working with kids.
"I'm responsible for
assisting school staff with
any (safety) training they
request," she said, noting
that she handles that for
every school in the county,
including both the public
and separate school
boards and one Mennonite
school — 35 in all.
She started bus evac-
uation training this week.
"I'm going into every school in the
county, except for one school in
Goderich," she said. "They haven't
any buses."
The other part of Van Mierlo's new
job is media relations.
"I'm the main spokesperson for
the Huron OPP for any news relat-
ed item," she said, noting that
media she'll work with include
newspapers, radio, TV and the
Internet. That role isn't just about
reporting incidents, but also public
education.
Next month she'll be attending a
week long media course in Orillia
on how to deal with reporters,
which she said will include instruc-
tion in what she can disclose and
what she can't.
"It's supposed to be intense. I hear
they really try to rock your world,"
she said, noting that the instructors
apparently do their best to make
them feel the pressure of having to
do things like answer questions
with a camera trained on them.
Before becoming a police officer,
Van Mierlo worked in the auto
industry while attending GMI
Engineering and Management
Institute in Flint, Michigan where
she earned a BSc in Industrial
Administration.
After that she worked in Human
Relations at Victoria Hospital in
London prior to the amalgamation
of the three hospitals.
While working there, she decided
to become a police officer.
"It was a growing process, decid-
ing what I wanted to be when I
'grew up,'" she said. "I didn't 'grow
up', unfortunately, until I was about
30."
After training, she requested and
received Huron County as her post-
ing because her husband Tony
works here for Hydro One. They
have two daughters, Carly, 17, and
Emily, 11.
When asked why she became an
officer, Van Mierlo answered, "It
was the desire to make a difference.
I know it sounds hokey, but it really
was."
"That and the lights and sirens,"
she added with a laugh.
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