BIOGRAPHY OF SCOTT BLANDFORD

WRITTEN AND PRESENTED BY: SCOTT BLANDFORD 42A Regina Crescent Trenton, ON K8V 1G7 scott.blandford1@gmail.com

(613) 242-5235

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The following biography gives a brief history of my life to date. Starting from the beginning, I was born at 0400 hrs, 13 Feb 1977, in Newmarket, ON. I spent the first 9 years of childhood living in the small village of Port Bolster, located at the South Eastern tip of Lake Simcoe. At the time, I was attending a small public school called Morning Glory Public school, which was a small school in the middle of nowhere, located on Hwy 48 between Pefferlaw and Sutton. I was the second of three siblings, having two sisters, one two years older, and the second being two years younger than myself. In grade 4, and at the age of nine, my parents decided to move the family to a better and more socially advanced place in Ontario, and relocated us to the town of Lindsay, ON. During this time in 1986, Lindsay had a population of approx 14 000 people, and was a nice quiet farm community type town. Now known as The City of Kawartha Lakes, the new amalgamated city has transformed into a much larger community sprouting a population of 73,214. Our first house in Lindsay was built within walking distance of my new school, Parkview Public School. I attended this school until grade six, when I graduated to a junior high school. This was the period of time I started martial arts training, when my father enrolling me in Taekwondo classes 2 times a week. I also obtained my first job when I was in Grade six at 12 years old, working at a Max Convenience store sweeping floors and stalking shelves. The store was located directly beside the school I was attending, and I worked there approximately 10 – 15 hours a week. My father, Lloyd Blandford, had started an excavating and home building company called Mid-North Construction when I was in grade 5, and began teaching me how

to operate the company bulldozer, backhoe and skid steer around the age of 12 as well. Grades 7 and 8 I attended Central Senior

Public School. This junior high school was

located on Lindsay's main street, Kent St,

directly beside the high school I would later

attend. By this period in time, I had stopped

training in Taekwondo and started training

in a mixture of Karate, Judo and Aikido. I had

also quit working at the Max Convenience

store and started employment with

MacDonald’s, a job that would last me 5

years throughout high school. I was very shy

at this age and had trouble making friends,

and was also having trouble in school. I was

able to make it through and graduate with

the help of my parents and teachers. At the

age of 14 I started high school at Lindsay

Collegiate and Vocational Institute, or better known as LCVI. High school was better to me than the previous junior high school I attended, and I began to grow out of my shell. I made numerous friends and was well liked by all the different clicks associated with high schools. I was one of the few people who could

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hang out with the red neck crowd, rappers, jocks and metal heads. I was known to stand up for people who lacked self-confidence and self-esteem, and often stupefied the bullies of the school, which was one of the biggest reasons for my acceptance by the different crowds. I obtained my driver’s licence in grade 10, three weeks after my 16th birthday. My parents bought me my first of many $500 cars, which was a 1984 Pontiac Bonneville. I also started training in Jujitsu around this time, and by grade 11, had earned my black belt Karate, the first of 2 black belts I would later achieve in martial arts. It was a proud time for me, as I was the only kid in the school to have a black belt, which greatly increased my popularity and status. I began teaching Karate and training full time in Jujitsu. By grade 12 though, I had lost all interest in school and wanted to hit the work force. I struggled through but in the end did not graduate. For my first year out of school, I worked for a slaughter house killing and processing chickens and turkeys for a company called Barkers Custom Poultry. Around this time I was still training in Jujitsu, earning my black belt in this martial art as well, and began teaching full time. Later on during that year, my father pulled a couple of strings, and was able to secure an apprenticeship for me with a machine shop in Oshawa, ON, called Intertek Machine and Fabricating. This company made machine and robotic parts for DuPont, Canada, and was a one hour commute from home. I excelled in this industry, and within 2 years was making machine parts better than some people with 10 years’ experience. I was the fastest parts maker on the manual lathe, and became an expert TIG, MIG and ARC welder. After nearly four years of this, I decided to apply for a job closer to home, and for the next few years

worked at VanHalteren Machine and Tool, just on the outskirts of town. Later on, and a few years of enduring an abusive boss at the machine shop, my brother-in-law talked me into working for him in the concrete industry. Again, and as with the machine shop industry, I quickly learned the trade, and within a few short years was able to work on my own without supervision building foundation walls. I worked in the concrete

trade for approximately 6 years before being offered a job as a bar manager at a place called Hoody's Pub and Night Club. With this job came a huge learning curve. Unlike my previous jobs, I was now working and dealing directly with the public. I learned to adapt and overcome various situations and problems, and also learned how to calm and deal with different types of people. I loved the idea of helping people sort out various problems, from work related to

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personal issues, and loved supervising and organizing people. It was a very rough bar though, and was not where I wanted my career progression to end. Late in 2004 I left the bar industry and returned to the concrete business working alongside my brother-in-law. Nearing winter of 2004 the construction industry began to slow as usual, and I was laid off. Tired of working jobs with no real future, and longing for a fulfilling career, I decided I would take the opportunity to return to school. I enrolled in a government funded program that helped unemployed or laid off people return to school, and decided a career in policing was ultimately what I could see myself doing for the rest of my life. This proved to be a huge changing point of my life, and after successfully passing a high school equivalency test, I was enrolled in college.

In January 2005 I started a Police Foundations

college course at Trillium College in Cobourg, ON.

This type of work, as I had previously learned in

the bar industry, really appealed to me. College

seemed to be the turning point of my life, and I

finally found something I really wanted and fought

for. I graduated College at the age of 28 with

honours, and a grade point average of 91%.

Throughout my schooling I was having trouble

deciding what police force I ultimately wanted to

join. My older sister, who had been in the Navy for

at least 8 years prior, told me about the Military

Police, who at that time I did not even know

existed. The military life style and all the things it

encompassed drew me in and I was sold. I applied

to the Military Police passing the entrance exams, but was placed into a large pool of other

applicants and things were put on hold. After nearly a year of waiting for the military to call, and

frustrated with the lack of job opportunities in the area, my older sister invited me to move out West

to Victoria, BC, with her and my brother-in-law. I researched the job postings for BC, and after seeing

the huge demand for nearly every type of employment, I jumped at the opportunity and was driving

West within 3 days. This again proved to be a very valuable decision, and unknowingly, gave me a

huge advantage in the hiring process with the Military Police. My Military file was moved from the

applicant flooded Province of Ontario, to the Victoria, BC recruiting centre. Little did I know, I was

now the only Military Police applicant within this recruiting centre, which significantly increased my

chances of standing out in the crowd, which resulted in me obtaining a 3 day interview process at the Military Police Assessment Centre, CFB Borden, ON. After the assessment I returned to BC, and within 2 weeks was holding a letter with an offer of employment for the Military Police. All of my hard work and dedication had finally paid off, and I knew things would never be the same for me.

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January of 2007 I attended Basic Soldier Training in Saint-Jean, QC. I met some new lifelong friends, learned the benefits of team work, esprit de corps or moral building, respect for rank structure, and was introduced to the military lifestyle. After graduating Basic Training, I was flown to CFB Borden to await further training, and after a short waiting period was sent to CFB Gagetown, NB, for my Soldier Qualification course. This course was very exciting for me, due to the fact we learned to shoot various automatic weapons and throw some live grenades, something I had only seen on TV up until that point, and gave me huge bragging rights over my father. I attended this training with most of my newly found MP friends from Basic Training, which only increased the fun factor. This course featured simulated fire fights, trench warfare, long nights of guard duty, camp security and other war related and team building exercises. Although it was very challenging work much like Basic Training, we all came together as a team and graduated together, marking another proud moment in my new life. When I returned to CFB Borden as a newly qualified soldier, I attended the Military Police Academy for 6 months of intense police training. This training is close to being a carbon copy of the 6 month RCMP academy training, with some National Defence Act sections added. I knew during this training that I had finally found my calling, and never wanted to be anything else but a police officer again. I graduated from the academy with honours and maintained a grade point average of 90%. Before graduation we were all given our posting messages, spreading us out across the country.

In 2008 I arrived at my first posting, CFB Goose Bay in Labrador. This was a very small

Military Police Detachment and I found

myself working on shift alone right from the start. The local Happy Valley-Goose Bay

RCMP Detachment became one of my

favourite hangout spots, and was where I gained a large amount police knowledge. I

also attended the RCMP B Division Headquarters in St Johns, NL, for a

Breathalyzer Technician course, which was

run in conjunction with the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary. The RCMP took

me under their wing, calling me their Federal brother, and showed me the comradeship and closeness of the RCMP members, which was very similar and appealing much like the MP's. While in Goose Bay, my first son Braedan was born in Barrie, ON. After applying for a compassionate posting to be with my soon to be wife and new son, I was posted from Goose Bay back to CFB Borden where I was later married to my wife Samantha. In September 2010 we had our second son, Gavin, and decided to move out the Base housing, and into our first family home. We bought our first home in Angus, ON, with a fully fence yard, swimming pool for the boys, and a large wooded area out back.

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Since working in Borden I've become a subject matter expert for traffic related police duties, was made the shift supervisor for the Borden Traffic Enforcement Unit, and set Canada wide records for traffic court within the Military Police. I've also had the privilege of staring in a local Barrie, ON, TV show called On Patrol, which is similar to the RCMP's To Serve and Protect TV show. As a result of my hard work and dedication, I have had the honour of being placed on various police courses with different police agencies in the area, including an RCMP Drug Recognition Expert course. I was deployed overseas in September 2011 to a United States Military Base in Kuwait, which was a support hub for the war in Afghanistan. This proved to be one of the most difficult things I've had to do, not because of the work involved, but because it took me away from my beautiful wife and two young boys. My poor wife spent many nights talking to me in tears on Skype, and a promise was made to never leave her again. I came home from Kuwait just before Christmas 2011, and due to the bulk of the mission being completed, I was not required to return to the Middle East for the remaining months I was originally tasked for. In May 2013, my third and final child was born. My wife and I decided after careful consideration to name our newborn daughter Kassia Sandra Nicole Blandford. Shortly thereafter, in June 2013, I was promoted to the rank of Master Corporal, and in June 2014, was posted to 12 Military Police Flight, CFB Comox, BC. Unfortunately, my wife, who has always suffered from psychological and emotional issues, was deemed a danger to the safety of our children and was removed from the home. Due to this major event, and me now being a single parent with three kids full time, I was posted on a compassionate status again in February 2016, to CFB Trenton, ON. With the military no longer being a feasible career choice for me and my kids, and knowing

deployments overseas will no longer be possible, I have started looking at other career opportunities. After much thought, and knowing I could not leave my kids on a deployment again, I decided a civilian agency was the next and final step of my career.

In closing I have acquired a great amount of life experience, not only in my policing career, but in the years prior. Life circumstances are constantly evolving, and for me, this means a change in my career to better suit the needs of my family. I will always remember my military roots and always be thankful towards the military police, for training and preparing me for the final step in my career. Thank you for reading.

THE END

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