Leading Community to Conversation
The event took place on March 11 at the Jamaican Canadian Association centre.
Clarke was presented with a Community Award by Chief Mark Saunders.
“The most challenging relationship right now in our society is police legitimacy versus community,” he said. “That is the most challenging conversation that we do have and if we don’t have the right leaders in the right place to help correct that, then we will fail as an agency and a community. That is why I am here today because I want to give recognition to one of my most important assets when it comes to that marriage. It is not a matter of bringing people to the table. It’s a matter of keeping people at the table.
“The first hurdle is recognizing that you can’t take away a person’s lived experience. Stacy understands that right from the start. Having that lived experience and ability to bring people to the table, having those hard conversations, understanding how to blend all of those elements in so that we as an organization can get it right and start to move forward is something that was phenomenal to watch over the years. Having Stacy in that role, having the ability of having an officer with that knowledge and wisdom to carry that torch and represent us in such a way that we now have a platform to move in the right direction is great. The fact that the community has recognized the value of Stacy means a lot to me and our organization. As law enforcement officials, we don’t like getting accolades. We do things because they are the right things to do. But it is great when we get accolades.”
Joining the Service in 1998, Clarke spent the early part of her career working in the Community Response Unit, Youth Bureau and Intelligence. She has served in a wide variety of uniform, investigative, training and community-oriented policing functions.
Clarke spent two years each in the Homicide and Divisional Policing Support Units respectively before being transferred to the College in 2008. After being promoted two years later, she was assigned to 13 Division as a Sergeant. In 2012, she was transferred to 22 Division where she worked in the Primary Response Unit and the Detective’s Office.
As a member of the Professional Standards Unit, she was assigned to the Police and Community Review (PACER).
Promoted to Staff Sergeant in 2016, Clarke leads the Learning Development & Standards section at the College.
