A Winnipeg Police Service officer will spend the next three months studying conflict resolution and peace-building in an intense international training program. Her goal: use the knowledge to set new paths for the WPS in the community as a whole and with Indigenous people.

Insp. Bonnie Emerson is one of 22 people from around the world (and one of three police officers) selected by Rotary International for peace fellowships in its 2019 professional certification program at the Rotary Peace Centre at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.

"It's a great honour to be selected for this fellowship," said Emerson, who heads up the WPS community support division. "It's relevant because if we say we want to do more than just arrest the problems, we want to address root causes of crime and we want to connect with community partners and have strategic partnerships, we want to do work that has an impact."

The program begins Monday and concludes April 5.

When she returns, Emerson said she will use her her training to spearhead developmental opportunities for other WPS officers to strengthen their skills in relationship-building and when facing conflict situations.

"In a crisis, police are the first people on the scene. So what would it look like to know how to connect our general patrol members or specialty unit members with the community resources that can help people?" Emerson, a 25-year officer, said before her departure Thursday morning.

On Monday, Emerson will begin chronicling her experiences on her blog (bemersonpeace.ca).

"Peace and non-violent conflict resolution has to do with more than just police enforcement, but police enforcement certainly plays a role. We want to partner with educators, government, the community when we're looking at how do we have a peaceful community," she said.

"There are occasions where people will be placed under arrest or incarcerated. But there's many other opportunities where — what would it look like if we can actually co-ordinate (with an appropriate service or community organization) and not have situations escalate to the point where they're pulled into the criminal justice system?

"We've seen that (need) with the over-representation of Indigenous persons within the justice system and jails."

Her studies during the peace fellowship will include four modules of academic training, practice, global networking opportunities, and two field studies.

The first field study will be in an area of Thailand inhabited by refugees and migrants where conflict has occurred. The second will be in a post-conflict area where rebuilding is taking place in either Cambodia, Nepal, Philippines or Sri Lanka.

Only individuals who have been working already in the areas of peace and conflict studies are chosen.

"Rotary is bringing together a number of people who have experience in bunch of different spheres; bring them together from a global perspective to learn best practices and come up with some innovative ideas that we can apply locally," Emerson said. "What I've learned is what happens globally, affects us locally."

She hopes what she learns will be the foundation for specific processes WPS officers can follow when faced with conflict situations, such as blockades or last spring's Parker lands sit-in, where force is the last resort.

"My ultimate goal, before I retire, is to have people think of the police service as peacekeepers."

ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca