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RCMP officers honoured for going above and beyond

Corp. Mike Loerke and Const. Carl Stene jumped into Wood Lake and suffered hypothermia in December of 2012 in an effort to rescue the drive of the Jeep TJ pictured and have been awarded for their bravery.

WEST KELOWNA – In between the traffic stops and routine patrols, RCMP officers are sometimes called on to risk their lives to serve the public.

Officers from West Kelowna, Lake Country, Kamloops, Salmon Arm and Summerland were recently recognized for their bravery at the Police Honours Night in Victoria hosted by Governor General Judith Guichon.

Const. Kent Hall and reserve Const. Sean Lloyd from the West Kelowna detachment saved a suicidal woman who leapt from the Bennett Bridge in Kelowna in the summer of 2012. For their actions, which saved her from the 18-metre fall from the bridge’s highest point, they were given the award of valour, the highest honour for a police officer in B.C.

Lake Country officers Corp. Mike Loerke and Const. Carl Stene jumped into Wood Lake in December of 2012 in an attempt to rescue a 59-year-old Salmon Arm woman who lost control of her Jeep TJ and ended up in the water. The officers joined citizens in a heroic effort to rescue her, but she didn’t make it. Loerke, who now works in Penticton, and Stene received awards of meritorious service for enduring hypothermia in the effort to get her out of the submerged vehicle. The two RCMP members received bravery bronze medals from the federal government earlier this year.

Also from the Lake Country detachment, Corp. Tess Guay has an award of meritorious service for delivering life-saving first aid in May 2012. She was first on the scene to a shooting and the victim had lost a considerable amount of blood. She has since been transferred to the Kelowna detachment.

Staff Sgt. Benoit Rodrigue of Kamloops has also been honoured with an award of meritorious service for his display of superior crisis negotiation skills during an incident involving an armed hostage taker.

Salmon Arm’s Const. Micah Chan received the award of meritorious service for quickly tending to a woman and her dog at risk of drowning in cold waters after overturning her canoe.

Const. Jordan Luscmombe received his for talking a suicidal teenager away from a 91-metre drop while working at the Summerland detachment. He currently is stationed in Shawnigan Lake.

"The depth of commitment, clear-headedness and skill demonstrated by these officers — in perilous moments, and over longer periods of service — are examples to their colleagues and those who aspire to policing and other first responder roles,” Attorney General and Minister of Justice Suzanne Anton says in a media release.

Members of the B.C. Association of Chiefs of Police and the ministry of Justice are on a committee that selects the award winners from the over 9,000 police officers in B.C. serving on municipal police forces, the RCMP, First Nations and transit police organizations.

News from © iNFOnews, 2014
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