Moose Jaw Police Service held a bittersweet ceremony Wednesday afternoon as they not only congratulated officers on their promotions, but also said goodbye to some of their closest colleagues. 

Families and friends of those retiring gathered in the Moose Jaw City Council Chambers, where Rick Bourassa and the Board of Police Commissioners were there to congratulate all who were entering into a new part of their life and careers. In total, 6 officers were promoted while 3 other MJPS employees retired. 

While it was a formal venue, Chief of Police Rick Bourassa said they like to keep ceremonies like this informal.

"You know we have a lot of formalities in our world and there are times when it's really important, but there are also times when it's more important for people to just come together as family, as friends, as colleagues and to just recognize people's accomplishments and achievements and this is one of those day where, you know there's a bit of formality but it's really nice to keep it informal so that people can just feel relaxed."

Retirees honoured included Deputy Chief Cliff Froehlich, Sergeant Drew Waldo, and Alarm Bylaw Coordinator Gail Whitfield.

"It's really hard to recognize people on their retirements that are leaving that have done so much," said Chief of Police Rick Bourassa. "In the case of people that we saw off today, I've relied on them; so many in our service have relied on them, and they've done such an outstanding job for not only for our service but for our community and, in the case of Cliff, the region, the province, and across the country as well. They've had so much impact."

Those moving up in the ranks included Rick Johns moving into the Deputy Chief position, Devon Oleniuk promoted to Inspector, Marlie Frei and  Cam Lewis who were promoted to the rank of Sergeant, and Myles Coghlin who was promoted to Corporal along with Taylor Elder.

Chief Bourassa said that this is one of the biggest moves in positions they've had in a while and it is a huge change up, because they also have a larger group of four graduating officers coming in to the service soon.

One thing was certain as there was a sense pride at the ceremony. Officer and retirees were proud of those moving up in the ranks, and others were proud of the retirees and the amount of work they've done for the police service and for the community.