One local police officer received a provincial award today, recognizing his work in taking impaired drivers off the road.

MADD Canada is holding its Second Annual Constable Heidi Stevenson Watch Award Ceremony today.

Antigonish RCMP officer Constable Tyler Baird is receiving a Silver Coin Award, presented to officers who have removed 15 to 23 impaired drivers in 2023. In the inaugural awards ceremony last year, Baird received the Gold Coin Award, for officers who removed 24 or more impaired drivers from Nova Scotia roads.

In all, 13 officers were recognized in the ceremony this morning at the RCMP’s H Division Headquarters in Dartmouth.

The award is named in honour of Antigonish native Constable Heidi Stevenson, a 23-year RCMP veteran, who was killed while protecting others in the April, 2020 mass shooting. Later that year, MADD Canada honoured Stevenson posthumously with the Terry Ryan Memorial Award for Excellence in Police Services.