The Leadership Award is presented in memory of Sgt. Margaret Eve of the Ontario Provincial Police and sponsored by the Ontario Provincial Police Association.
Ottawa Police Service - Sgt. Sandra McLaren received the OWLE and IAWP Medal of Valour in 1998. Since then, she has continued to demonstrate outstanding work performance, applied innovative investigative approaches and excelled at building relationships between police services and the community in order to achieve common goals.
Her role in the Partner Assault Unit has revealed her tireless dedication to the victims of domestic violence. "She can be counted on to maintain the highest standard of performance" , writes her supervisor.
Sandra's passion for computers and awareness of the rise in criminal activity over the Internet resulted in her joining the High Tech Crimes Unit. There she began to investigate cases of child luring and child pornography on the web. She proactively sought out suspects who were luring children and found methods to identify them on-line. Her diligence in these investigations resulted in multiple arrests of pedophiles.
When Parliament passed new child luring legislation no accompanying training was available. Sandra developed and implemented an investigative template that is now regarded nationally as best practice and has been shared with policing partners around the world.
Since her promotion to Sergeant she has maintained her role in the High Tech Crimes Unit and has worked closely with the National Child Exploitation Coordination Centre to develop a new national training program for investigators. Sandra will facilitate the first "Computer Crimes Against Children" course that will be piloted at the Canadian Police College this year.
Sandra is steadfast in her belief that policing the internet for those persons who sexually exploit children can be achieved by those individuals who take ownership of tasks, creating a contagious enthusiasm that can lead to previously perceived insurmountable goals.
Brian Adkin, President of the Ontario Provincial Police Association presented the award to Ottawa Police Deputy Chief Sue O'Sullivan who accepted it on behalf of Sandra.
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