
By Steven Legros, Toronto Police Service
Though it has been more than a year since Sergeant Stephen Henkel returned from a year-long assignment in Haiti, the country and its people are still very fresh in his mind.
Assigned to Haiti’s Coast Guard, Henkel developed training programs and accompanied Haitian military personnel on long-range patrols, in addition to mentoring and training local officers. He also assisted with counter-narcotics patrols and supervised officers at the satellite Coast Guard stations in Cap Haitien and Les Cayes.
One of the highlights of Henkel’s Haitian experience was the Sundays he spent at a local orphanage, Le Main Divine.
Hundreds of orphanages exist across Haiti to accommodate children who lost their parents in the January 2010 earthquake and others whose families are too poor to take care of them.
“The quality time spent with those kids on Sundays and at Christmas is something I will never forget,” recalled Henkel, at a ceremony at the Toronto Police College on December 15 to recognize Service members who had served overseas. “…In addition, it was great to just bond with the locals.”
A McMaster University forensic anthropology graduate, with a longstanding interest in drowning investigations and underwater forensics, Henkel – a homicide investigator – was among Toronto Police officers – active and retired – presented with Canadian Peacekeeping Service Medals