Olympian compares speedskating to police work
During a discussion at the International Association of Women Police conference in Calgary Monday, Olympic speedskater-turnedpolice-officer Cindy Klassen told delegates about being in training when she was handed a misspelled “observer” vest.
As a recruit, she was not able to wear the usual Calgary Police Service uniform. Instead, when going on a ride-along, she and her fellow recruits had to wear black vests with the word “observer” on the back.
Klassen said she received one with the letters O and B missing from the word “observer,” so it said “server” instead.
“I brought that to the attention to one of my class sergeants and he said, ‘No, that’s awesome. That’s what we’re called to be as police officers. We’re servers,’” said Klassen.
Klassen, who has been with Calgary police for about three years, said she has noticed some parallels between sports and police work.
“In sports, you have your team that’s around you and I like how, going into policing, you have your line which is kind of like a team as well and you have your sergeant which is almost like a coach too,” said Klassen.
“Things like goal-setting and thinking of where I want to go as a police officer and the challenges. Going to every call and giving it my best, just as I did in speedskating.”
She also said there have been a lot of skills that have been transferable from her speedskating career to working in the police force.
“Just the hard work and bringing that into policing, the resiliency, I think that the adversity you face in speedskating, there’s challenges along the way,” said Klassen. “There might be injury, there might be maybe some people you don’t see eye to eye with and coming into this job you’re always faced with adversity.
“You’re always problem-solving, going into situations where you’re there to smooth things over and fix the problem so, it can be tough, it can be challenging but I think my experience through speedskating has taught me how to be patient and to do my best in every situation.”
She said so far it’s been an exciting experience and she’s learning something new every day.
When she decided to become a police officer, Klassen wanted to give back to the community that supported her as an Olympian and receiving that “observer” vest has been a reminder of the work she has set out to do.