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New constable arrives in Houston from depot

Houston's new Constable Melissa Wong grew up in Vancouver and comes from depot with a degree in psychology.
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Constable Melissa Wong grew up in Vancouver and came from depot for her first posting in Houston.

Houston's new Constable Melissa Wong comes from depot with a degree in psychology.

She grew up in Vancouver and after high school, went on to study at the University of British Columbia and the University of Manitoba.

"I chose psychology because it was interesting learning about the behaviours of people," Wong said.

She says she first considered going into the RCMP while in university, so when she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, she started volunteering at a Vancouver community policing centre.

Wong says they attended community events, did a lot of foot patrols and checking for stolen vehicles.

"I wanted to do something challenging and exciting as a career," she said, adding that she likes how the RCMP will move her around.

"I don't want to be in the same place for my whole career.

When she went to RCMP Depot for six months to train, Wong said it was very different.

"Everything was really structured, and there's lots of rules," she said, adding that everyone got used to it after a while.

Waking up at 5:30 a.m., she and her 25-person troop went for breakfast together and then spent the whole day in classes learning about the Criminal Code, fitness, firearms and police defensive tactics.

Classes finished at 4:30 p.m. and then there are assignments and fitness competencies to do on your own. Curfew was 11 p.m.

Of the 25-person troop, Wong says there were eight females, but "everyone treated each other with respect, so there wasn't much different in terms of being a female there."

Wong really enjoyed Depot and says her highlight was meeting all the other recruits and making friends there.

Now posted in Houston, she says the town is definitely smaller then she's used to.

"It's small, but the people are really friendly," she said.

With it being her first post, Wong says she is trying to learn as much as she can here.

"There's a lot to learn… I don't really know what to expect," she said.