Const. Khoa Hoang was recognized for his community policing efforts during the Community Safety Awards at city hall on Monday evening.
Hoang, the officer in charge of the Centretown Community Police Centre, received the Enforcement Professional Award and two additional nominations this year.
“I think every police officer wants to make a difference and I think we all do make a difference in our own way,” Hoang said before the ceremony. “And to be singled out is quite overwhelming and unexpected.”
Crime Prevention Ottawa’s eight community awards “recognize the people and programs that have made a difference in preventing crime and making communities safer across the city.”
Hoang noted that safety awards rarely focus on crime prevention. “I think they’re extremely important,” he said, “because it shifts the focus away from the big guns and the more overt actions of the police.”
Hoang has collaborated with a number of community partners, including the Ottawa Coalition to End Violence Against Women and Circles of Support and Accountability, a program that helps former sex offenders at risk of reoffending.
Hoang, a new father, said he plans to take time off for paternity leave next year when things settle down at work – the police centre has been much busier than expected since the move to city hall.
“Many of our community partners come to city hall for meetings, so now we’re accessible to them while they’re already here,” he said. “Now they’re always dropping by. We have more calls. We have more walk-ins. We have more work.”