He was still in his teens when he put the police uniform on for the first time. Now, 36 years later – and an entire career served in Lethbridge – Deputy Chief Colin Catonio has hung up his uniform.
“It’s still sinking in to some extent, a little surreal. I understand that at one point, you’ll finally realize: hey, you aren’t going back to work any more.”
Catonio started as a patrol officer in 1980. When looking back over more than three decades, there are several career highlights, but he said none compare to when it started.
“Oh boy, there’s so many. You know, the day I got hired was the highlight and being involved in some significant drug investigations as well.”
He has worked some major cases like the investigation involving a five-year-old girl who was kidnapped and murdered.
“I remember working with a great team of investigators on the Koopmans homicide. We still remember that one,” he added.
Insp. Tom Ascroft has worked alongside Catonio for 29 years and said his knowledge and passion have been assets to the team.
“He’s kind of been a bridge between generations.
He’s been here a very long time and he’s seen a lot of people come and go – a lot of chiefs come and go – it’s going to be quite different without him.”
Ten police chiefs came and went over Catonio’s career. He himself served as interim chief, a role that gave him a greater appreciation for the service as a whole.
“There’s a huge back office – a whole business side – to running an organization of a police service and the transition to that and actually learning that side of it was quite enlightening and I really came to enjoy the business side of policing as well,” he added.
As for what he will miss the most: “The people, clearly the people.
“We have a great organization. We have people with amazing talents in all corners of this building that do all different things and a police service does not survive without their contributions.”
He plans to enjoy his summer off before heading back to some part-time non-police work.
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