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Four detachments in (almost) 40 years

Helen Lapka has seen the RCMP detachment change a great deal over the years.
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Helen Lapka was given the honour of raising the Canadian flag at the new Royal Canadian Mounted Police detachment in Golden on Oct. 19.

In the almost 40 years working for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Golden, Helen Lapka has seen many changes in both the staffing and detachments.

Lapka was recently given the honour of raising the Canadian flag at the newest detachment which has just recently opened.

“It was a nice honour but I was not expecting it,” she said.

Currently she is the Office Manager at the detachment.

She talked about how things have changed for her over her time working for the RCMP.

“I have seen many officers come and go. When they did a 25th anniversary for me they printed off a list of all the members that I worked with and I had already forgotten some of the names. Asking me at almost 40 years is more difficult,” she said laughing. “I have seen a lot of technology changes which test my abilities of course.”

Lapka said she has had a great deal of fun over her years.

“I have enjoyed the job. It was always interesting working with new people,” she said.

She added that she is enjoying her first days at the new detachment.

“It is beautiful. I have been working with Sgt. (Troy) Durand on getting everything up and running. We had to pick the colours without seeing the building. It has been a chore. It is certainly nothing like when we moved into the building we just vacated,” she said.

“I have worked with Helen for four years and she has taught me a lot,” said Sgt. Troy Durand. “I came here as a new detachment commander. It was my first posting and Helen has guided me in many areas. Her expertise is in finances and I can tell you financially she runs this detachment. Without her I would be lost. New detachment commanders may come and go and they rely on Helen to get them up and running on what is happening in town and how the detachment runs. She in invaluable.”

As for how long she plans to continue working Lapka said that forty is a nice round number but added, “Who’s to say in April if I will be in that frame of mind.”