From complex investigations to community service, the honours celebrate contributions to public safety across Manitoba.

The Manitoba Association of Chiefs of Police (MACP) recognized law enforcement professionals and professional staff whose work is making a difference for agencies and communities across the province at its Excellence in Law Enforcement Awards gala on October 28.

The awards highlighted achievements in investigations, leadership, road safety, innovation, public service and community engagement. They also brought attention to work often carried out away from the public spotlight from building data tools for front-line officers to supporting the financial operations of an association of police leaders.

The first MACP/CAA Outstanding Traffic Safety Award recognized Sergeants Paul Laporte and Lexington Slater of Manitoba Motor Carrier Enforcement. The pair helped advance investigations into falsified electronic driving records, strengthening efforts to identify fatigued commercial drivers and reduce risks on Manitoba highways.

Three professional staff members received Professional Outstanding Service recognition: Tamara Hall, who supports MACP’s financial operations while working with the Winnipeg Police Service; and Winnipeg Police Service data scientists Bradie Jackson and Jay Hipolito, who developed tools to assist officers with court-order compliance and outstanding warrants.

The Manitoba Excellence in Law Enforcement Medal recipients represented several agencies. Brandon Police Service Sergeant Michael Dixon was honoured for complex drug and organized crime investigations. Canada Border Services Agency Assistant Director Rick Stefaniuk was recognized for investigative leadership and innovation. Correctional Service Canada Security Intelligence Officer Jennifer Elyk was recognized for intelligence work supporting major investigations.

Also recognized were Manitoba First Nations Police Service Sergeant Devon LeBlanc, whose leadership has strengthened targeted enforcement; Manitoba Motor Carrier Enforcement Acting Deputy Chief Mike Wrixon, who advanced intelligence-driven road safety; and RCMP Constables Shaylyn Brazier and Ronda Mann, whose investigative work has included historical homicide cases and complex prosecutions.

RCMP Staff Sergeant Matthew Lavallee was honoured for community-focused leadership and mentorship; Inspector Zane Semaniuk for operational leadership; and Staff Sergeant Keri Vaters for forensic investigation, employee wellness and community service.

Winnipeg Police Service recipients included Sergeant Claudio Belfiglio for organized crime enforcement; Staff Sergeant Logan Binda for charitable leadership; Constable Brian Hunter for reconciliation-focused artwork and engagement; Patrol Sergeant Andrew Zurawsky for advancing specialized training; and Staff Sergeant Sara Davidson for humanitarian search leadership.

Together, the recipients reflect the breadth of work involved in public safety and the importance of collaboration, professionalism, compassion and service both inside and outside law enforcement agencies.

MACP will share additional stories highlighting the recipients and the contributions behind their recognition.

Sergeants Paul Laporte and Lexington Slater helped develop investigative approaches to uncover falsified commercial driving records.

A commercial vehicle’s electronic log may show that a driver has followed the rules. But what happens when the record does not reflect the hours actually spent on the road?

That question is at the centre of work led by Manitoba Motor Carrier Enforcement to identify commercial drivers operating beyond permitted driving hours. It also helped earn Sergeants Paul Laporte and Lexington Slater the first MACP/CAA Outstanding Traffic Safety Award.

The award recognizes contributions to protecting everyone who uses Manitoba’s roads through enforcement, education, partnership and innovation. Ewald Friesen of CAA Manitoba introduced the inaugural recipients at the MACP awards gala.

In 2025, Manitoba Motor Carrier Enforcement launched a provincial initiative focused on the falsification of electronic logging records. Laporte and Slater helped equip officers to look beyond an electronic log by comparing driving-hour entries with GPS information, border-crossing records, fuel receipts and other evidence.

The approach made it possible to reconstruct a driver’s actual activities and identify violations that might otherwise remain hidden. These methods also strengthened the investigation of serious and fatal collisions.

Manitoba Motor Carrier Enforcement initiated more than 2,100 Hours of Service-related charges in 2025 and removed or prohibited more than 100 commercial drivers from operating because of serious safety violations. Evidence from electronic logging investigations also supported criminal cases involving charges of dangerous operation of a conveyance.

The benefits extend beyond a single unit. By sharing their knowledge with municipal police, the RCMP and federal prosecutors, the officers helped strengthen investigative practices across agencies.

The award recognizes more than enforcement totals. It highlights how identifying a hidden risk, developing effective investigative methods and sharing those methods can help make Manitoba highways safer for everyone.

Tamara Hall, Bradie Jackson and Jay Hipolito recognized for work that helps police organizations and front-line officers succeed.

Not every contribution to public safety takes place at a crime scene or on patrol. Some of the most important work happens in finance offices, through data analysis and in the systems that help law enforcement organizations function.

The MACP Professional Outstanding Service Awards recognize that often unseen contribution. This year’s honourees are Tamara Hall of the Winnipeg Police Service and MACP, and Winnipeg Police Service data scientists Bradie Jackson and Jay Hipolito.

For Hall, supporting MACP’s finances is work performed in addition to her full-time role in the Winnipeg Police Service Finance Department. She oversees budgeting, financial reporting, sponsor and event transactions, reconciliations and audit preparation for an association whose membership and partners span multiple agencies and jurisdictions.

Her contribution gives MACP the financial controls and documentation required to operate responsibly and maintain public trust. The work carries no separate compensation and is not part of her substantive job description.

Jackson and Hipolito saw a different organizational challenge: officers needed a reliable way to understand and act on court-ordered conditions. Following exposure to an analytics tool in Ontario, they spent more than two years developing an in-house solution with input from front-line officers.

Their Conditions Compliance Tool brings relevant information directly into police cruisers, allowing officers to review compliance history and identify cases requiring attention. They also developed a Warrants Dashboard to support efforts to locate wanted individuals.

The tools support the Winnipeg Police Service Bail Compliance Unit, launched in December 2025. The award submission reports that the unit has completed 3,035 compliance checks, identified 670 people breaching conditions and arrested 298 wanted people since its launch. These results should be confirmed for the intended publication date.

Although their roles and contributions are very different, the three honourees share a common distinction: they identified work that needed doing and brought expertise, initiative and sustained commitment to getting it done.

Six Manitoba Excellence in Law Enforcement Medal recipients recognized for contributions to complex investigations and enforcement.

Complex investigations are rarely defined by a single moment. They can demand years of patient work, careful evidence management and close partnerships between agencies and communities.

Six recipients of the Manitoba Excellence in Law Enforcement Medal were recognized for investigative contributions that demonstrate those demands: Sergeant Michael Dixon of the Brandon Police Service; Security Intelligence Officer Jennifer Elyk of Correctional Service Canada; Sergeant Devon LeBlanc of the Manitoba First Nations Police Service; RCMP Constables Shaylyn Brazier and Ronda Mann; and Sergeant Claudio Belfiglio of the Winnipeg Police Service.

Dixon has played a central role in major drug and organized crime investigations in Brandon and surrounding communities. He led Project Brazen, the Brandon Police Service’s first independently conducted Part VI wiretap investigation, and held key roles in Projects Debris and Banish. His experience in confidential source management and judicial authorizations has also made him a mentor to fellow investigators.

For Elyk, intelligence collected within a correctional institution has had an impact well beyond its walls. With more than three decades of service at Stony Mountain Institution, she has contributed to joint investigations involving illicit drugs, firearms and organized crime, while sharing her knowledge with police investigators and prosecutors.

LeBlanc leads a two-member Crime Reduction and Enforcement Unit serving First Nations communities. By focusing limited resources on intelligence-led investigations and collaboration, the unit has reported substantial drug and firearm seizures and enforcement results in 2026. His recognition reflects both operational leadership and support for front-line detachments.

Brazier’s work demonstrates the importance of persistence and trust. She renewed an investigation into a 1988 homicide by reviewing the file, rebuilding relationships with witnesses and a First Nations community, and obtaining new investigative leads. She has also conducted trauma-informed interviews with Yazidi survivors as part of an international investigation into atrocities committed by ISIS.

Mann’s expertise in major-case coordination was particularly important to Project Domain, the investigation into the 2007 homicide of Crystal Saunders. Her detailed work on disclosure and evidence continuity helped support a complex prosecution that concluded with a manslaughter conviction in March 2026.

Belfiglio’s career in organized crime enforcement includes leading Project Puma, a two-year investigation into a national and international drug-trafficking network. The award material reports 39 arrests, 174 charges and seizures of more than 552 kilograms of illicit drugs. He has also helped train officers in drug enforcement and undercover operations.

These achievements differ in scope and method, but each shows that investigative excellence depends on more than technical ability. It requires judgment, perseverance, partnerships and a commitment to seeking answers while protecting the public.

Six MACP medal recipients recognized for innovation, mentoring, operational readiness and care for colleagues.

Leadership in law enforcement is measured not only by the decisions made in difficult moments, but also by the systems, skills and relationships built long before those moments arrive.

That broader understanding of leadership connects six Manitoba Excellence in Law Enforcement Medal recipients: Canada Border Services Agency Assistant Director Rick Stefaniuk; Manitoba Motor Carrier Enforcement Acting Deputy Chief Mike Wrixon; RCMP Staff Sergeant Matthew Lavallee, Inspector Zane Semaniuk and Staff Sergeant Keri Vaters; and Winnipeg Police Service Patrol Sergeant Andrew Zurawsky.

Stefaniuk, a veteran of more than 35 years with the Canada Border Services Agency, has helped his Prairie Region criminal investigations team use new technology and build stronger partnerships. His leadership has included supporting the use of GPS tracking and other investigative approaches to detect illicit firearms.

Wrixon introduced evidence-based policing principles into Manitoba Motor Carrier Enforcement in 2025. Through the Intelligence-Driven Road Safety Initiative, officers use collision data, traffic trends and risk analysis to focus their efforts where serious harm is most likely. The nomination also credits his leadership with a 20 per cent increase in Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance inspections.

Lavallee has spent more than three decades with the RCMP and 16 years overseeing operations in the Prairie Mountain Area. His service includes supporting a safer communities committee, restorative justice initiatives, and training in winter survival and off-road vehicle safety. In 2026, he travelled by ice road to provide training in Little Grand Rapids.

As Central Plains Area Commander and a Critical Incident Commander, Semaniuk is trusted to lead high-risk events and coordinate specialized resources. His recognition reflects more than 25 years of operational experience, sound decision-making and mentorship across Manitoba communities.

Vaters has combined forensic identification leadership with a strong commitment to employee wellness. Her work in complex investigations has helped support families and prosecutions, while her efforts to reduce stigma around mental health and organize community fundraising have extended her influence beyond the workplace.

Zurawsky identified the need to improve tactical breaching techniques and brought together specialists from sport, biomechanics and medicine for a four-year research initiative. The resulting training and equipment improvements helped develop a program now used by the Winnipeg Police Service and other agencies.

Each of these recipients has left a mark through changes that endure: better training, smarter deployment, stronger teams and a safer environment for the public and for colleagues.

Three Winnipeg Police Service members honoured for charitable leadership, reconciliation and humanitarian search efforts.

Policing can have a lasting impact far beyond enforcement. It can also mean bringing people together for a cause, using creativity to strengthen understanding, or supporting families through extraordinary loss.

Those dimensions of service are reflected in the Manitoba Excellence in Law Enforcement Medals awarded to Winnipeg Police Service Staff Sergeant Logan Binda, Constable Brian Hunter and Staff Sergeant Sara Davidson.

Binda has helped turn Brave the Shave into an annual charitable initiative supporting Make-A-Wish Manitoba and Nunavut. Over five years, 171 participants have shaved their heads and the campaign has raised more than $127,000. He has also served on the organization’s board and encouraged fellow officers and community supporters to get involved.

Hunter has used his artistic talent and Métis heritage to contribute to reconciliation and cultural education. He created original artwork for the Winnipeg Police Service Truth and Reconciliation Cruiser and a newly commissioned tipi. Developed in collaboration with the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, the projects offer opportunities to share teachings, encourage conversation and strengthen relationships with Indigenous communities.

Davidson leads the Winnipeg Police Service Ground Search and Rescue Unit, where her work has involved some of the province’s most sensitive humanitarian searches. She led unit members during the 2022 search and recovery of Rebecca Contois’s remains at the Brady Road Landfill, and has helped coordinate the Service’s involvement in the search for Ashlee Shingoose.

Her recognition emphasizes the respect, empathy and care required when working with grieving families, Indigenous communities and civilian searchers. Those relationships, built through difficult work, are as important as operational expertise.

Their contributions are different, but they share a common purpose: improving lives and building trust. The awards recognize members who have used their positions, talents and commitment to serve communities in ways that extend well beyond their daily duties.