Timmins Police officers are celebrating decades of being on the job.
Three members of the service — Const. Tara Laroche, Sgt. Marty Delich and Insp. Darren Dinel — are marking their 20-year milestone. At the short ceremony for them to receive a 20-year pin, medal and certificate, retiring Special Const. Dan Hannah was also honoured.
Laroche is from Timmins and joined the service in October 2009. Over the years she has worked in domestic violence investigations, sex offender registry, records management, traffic and community policing.
She was noted for her empathy.
"One of her most significant events in her career is when she rendered investigative and individual support to a single mother who took the time to thank Const. Laroche for simply 'being human' and not being the typical authority figure who would indulge in judging her or her family, given her history of police involvement," said Marc Depatie, Timmins Police corporate communications co-ordinator.
Delich, who is from Schumacher, was also hired in October 1999 and has achieved a number of certifications. He was promoted to Sergeant in 2008 and is currently in charge of the Training Section, ERT team and Community Services.
“He played an instrumental role in the developmental evolution of the TPS ERT team in its infancy and has served at approximately 150 critical incidents or callouts and participated in over 1,500 hours of training and development with the Timmins Police Service,” Depatie said.
With a Bachelor of Industrial Engineering degree, Depatie said he applied those skills in 2010 to design and deliver the Emergency Response Vehicle C2.
Dinel is from New Liskeard and started his policing career in November 1999. He has had stints in the drug enforcement section, intelligence section, and has conducted a number of criminal investigations with the crime unit.
He was promoted to Sergeant in August 2010, and Inspector in June 2018.
“In policing, if you’re a paper writer that’s something that’s you aspire to be good at and you’re either good at writing informations to obtain search warrants or you are not and it is a skillset that only a select number of officers possess and Insp. Dinel certainly does have that. He sets the bar very high in that field of endeavour,” said Depatie.
He is also a trained breathalyzer technician, coach officer, ERT member, crisis negotiator, and is currently designated to teach some courses, including the search warrant course accredited by the Ontario Police College.
Dinel is also a member of the timmins Police Pipes and Drums Unit.
Timmins Police Chief John Gauthier also awarded a retirement plaque to Special Const. Dan Hannah.
Since joining the service's Special Constable Unit in 2008, police say he showed a "conscientous work ethic and professionalism at all times."
