Former world champion free-diver Mandy-Rae Cruickshank has become a 911 dispatcher in B.C.
Cruickshank has held seven world records and 13 national records for Canada.
After her dominant career, she trained actors for underwater scenes including Tom Cruise and Margot Robbie. But during the pandemic, she decided to pivot her career into dispatch.
“I always thought it would be an interesting job,” Cruickshank said.
“Helping the public who are in difficult situations and that it would be a great challenging profession to be in.”
After seeing a poster asking people to apply to join the 911 Police Dispatch Centre in Courtenay, she applied. Since training in 2021, she has enjoyed the variance in day-to-day operations.
“I was never interested in a desk job where you do the same thing every day,” Cruickshank said. “With dispatching, every single call is different. … You’re always learning something that is going to challenge you.”
Cruickshank has always wanted to help people and animals. She was previously featured in The Cove, an Academy Award-winning documentary that showed how dolphins were being slaughtered in Japan.
“You know you have helped someone. You feel good that the officers arrived in time to help the person,” Cruickshank said.
“There are moments like that that make you feel really good about what you are doing.”