OPS Sergeant Devon Archer has invested almost three decades of his life into youth mentorship. He recently won the 2026 Police Services Hero of the Year Community Role Model Award in recognition of his initiatives championing literacy, creating opportunities for at-risk youth and building consistent engagement between the police and the community through sports, education and outreach, which have inspired positive change and created lasting community impact. He tells us why he goes beyond traditional policing to ensure young people and underrepresented communities in Ottawa are seen, supported and given a chance to succeed.
A father, a son, a police officer, a community builder and a role model. For the past 17 years since joining the force, Sergeant Devon Archer of Ottawa Police Service (OPS) has been actively engaged in building bridges between the police and the community. His specialty is youth mentorship, which is evident from his key initiatives, including the ‘Grow A Writer’ program, ‘Ottawa Blues FC’ and ‘Junior Blues Soccer Program’, which are aimed at creating opportunities for at-risk youth from underrepresented communities to inspire positive change, keep them out of trouble and foster better relations between young people and the police.
ABOVE: Sergeant Devon Archer with his 2026 Police Services Hero of the Year – Community Role Model award at the Police Association of Ontario’s 94th Annual Meeting and Convention. Photo: Courtesy OPS
Recognizing his long-lasting impact on the community, unwavering commitment to youth outreach and dedicated leadership rooted in giving back, Archer was presented with the Police Services Hero of the Year Community Role Model Award 2026 by the Police Association of Ontario (PAO) at the association’s 94th Annual Meeting and Convention in May. Established in 1933 to protect and advocate for the rights, interests and well-being of police personnel, the Police Association of Ontario represents over 33,000 sworn officers and civilian police personnel from 46 police associations across Ontario.
The annual Police Services Hero of the Year Awards, which is now in its 11th year, honours extraordinary acts of heroism by individuals and teams that are dedicated to protecting and serving their communities. Each year, members of the public are invited to send out their nominations for sworn police officers or civilian employees of the Ontario police service for these awards between February to March, after which the PAO Awards Committee reviews all nominees based on the award criteria across five categories: On-Duty Difference Maker – Uniform Officer, On-Duty Difference Maker – Civilian Police Service Employee; both categories awarding individuals who exceed expectations while on duty, The Extra Mile Award: celebrating acts of extraordinary kindness or bravery while off duty, Community Role Model: recognizing long-term contributions to community well-being and Police Hero Honour Roll Award: paying homage to impactful contributions over the past decade. The awards are then presented to winners at a ceremony in May. Archer was nominated for the same award last year as well.
In 2023, he was awarded the Chief Thomas Flanagan Lifetime Achievement Award for his dedicated contributions to youth, sports initiatives and community building over a decade as a first responder.
On what the award means to him, Archer says, “While it definitely feels good to win these awards, I never do anything for the accolades. I may have pioneered certain initiatives, but there are so many coworkers, committee members, community partners and volunteers, without whom none of this would have been possible. The award reinforces what we do at OPS, which is to go beyond traditional policing to connect with and support the larger community through these initiatives, while building trust between civilians and police.”
Archer has been actively volunteering and coaching youth soccer for 12 years before joining OPS. Based on his belief that sports teach you real-life skills like leadership and resilience, he also emphasises the importance of ‘passing on the ladder and helping others climb up’ – a nod to all those who have helped him succeed, ever since he arrived in Ottawa 30 years ago as an immigrant from Barbados. Over the years, he has inspired countless youth across Ottawa, as well as his own team members within OPS, through various programs that include:
Grow A Writer:
Started in 2020 as a way to inspire creativity and stay connected with the youth during COVID, the Grow A Writer annual program which is funded by OPS in partnership with Baico Publishing invites youth aged 8-16 across Ottawa to submit original short stories from June-August, which are then reviewed by a panel of judges that includes Stephanie Bertrand-Akimov, Vice-President of Baico Publishing and community volunteers who select 50 stories that are then published as a book. OPS members then hand-deliver these books to the writers whose stories are published, with a letter congratulating them on becoming published writers. The books are also available for sale on Baico Publishing and Ottawa Blues FC websites, as well as on Amazon. Proceeds from book sales are reinvested into a $1000 scholarship, which is awarded to one writer each year. Archer says that the program has helped promote literacy and instil confidence in young people, giving them a voice and a platform to express themselves, while helping grow the next generation of writers. Hand-delivering the published books also helps promote positive engagement between uniformed police officers and the larger community.
ABOVE: Grow A Writer book signing: Gelila Geremew (Jaku Konbit staff), Stephanie Bertrand-Akimov (VP, Baico Publishing), youth writers from Jaku Konbit and Sergeant Devon Archer.
Ottawa Blues Football Club (FC):
What started out in 2011 as a way to transform community drop-ins into regular engagement between the police and youth through soccer has now expanded to include friendly tournaments between the youth and OPS, as well as tournaments between the OPS, community members and frontline emergency services members such as paramedics, firefighters, doctors, nurses, bylaw and corrections officers. These games have helped the Ottawa Blues FC reinforce positive interactions between law-enforcement personnel and the larger community. Some of the prominent annual tournaments hosted by Ottawa Blues FC include the Emergency Services Soccer League, Ottawa Blues Classic Shield, Eric Czapnik Memorial Tournament held in honour of slain constable Eric Czapnik and the Tyson Memorial game held in honour of slain youth Tyson Ndongozi Nkunzimana from Ottawa’s Barundi community. Apart from these tournaments, Ottawa Blues FC participates in several other tournaments across the year, helping to raise funds for various local charities as well as its own initiatives such as Grow A Writer and Junior Blues Soccer Program. In 2025, Archer and other members of the OPS hosted the 44th Annual North American Police Soccer Tournament (NAPST) in Ottawa, which saw 32 teams from across North America competing with each other.
ABOVE (L-R): Constable Denis Oliveira, civilian member Bianca Plastino, Commander Renfrew paramedic Gordon Perolli, community volunteer Wendy Lapierre, Anna Korutowska (widow of Constable Eric Czapnik), Nobility Performance co-founder Michael Anderson, Ottawa paramedic Sable Top, Ottawa paramedic superintendent Gillian Cross, Sergeant Devon Archer, and Staff Sergeant Joanne Pilotte (with Constable David Bisimwa on the ground) gathered at the Ottawa Blues FC Charity Classic in honour of Constable Eric Czapnik. Photo: Quame Scott of Q3 Studios
Junior Blues Soccer Program:
In 2022, Archer decided to launch a free 6-8 week soccer program, that would be open to youth from the community, typically aged between 8-16. The program is held twice a year in the summer and fall, with volunteer coaches from the community. The program ends with a workshop that teaches life skills to participants, with community leaders coming in to talk about topics ranging from leadership and decision-making to financial literacy and the police service. The program has since expanded to include other sports such as basketball and has now been renamed as Junior Blues Sports Program. Archer says this program has been especially useful in bonding with newcomers to Ottawa who may be intimidated by the police force.
National Capital Blues Foundation:
Last year, Archer pioneered the launch of the National Capital Blues Foundation, a centralized organization formed to streamline all the different initiatives under a common banner and collect and distribute funds raised from various tournaments.
ABOVE: Ottawa Police Chief Eric Stubbs (left) and Sergeant Devon Archer, OPS (right) presenting a cheque from Ottawa Blues Charity Classic 2024 to Jason Hussak, Community Fundraising and Sponsorships, Special Olympics Ontario.
Rising Stars Gala:
Last month, Archer helped organize the first Rising Stars Gala which awarded $5000 in bursaries to youth aged 12-18 in four categories – Community Builder (for excellence in volunteerism), Junior Blues Leadership Award (for excellence in volunteering and sports), BAICO Next Generation Award (for a select writer of the Grow A Writer program), National Capital Blues Rising Star Award (for excellence in sports, academics and volunteering). While the first three awards are $1000 each, the last one is a bursary of $2000. These bursaries are aimed at helping to partially finance sports or academic opportunities that may have been otherwise unaffordable for these youth.
Resilience Lab:
Soon to be launched, this free six-week program aims to teach youth about resilience, leadership, mental health, anxiety and overcoming real-life challenges through a series of workshops by community leaders. As with the Junior Blues Sports Program, all participants of the Resilience Lab workshops will be presented with a certificate at the end of the program.
Archer attributes his joining the police force to ‘a higher calling’. “I think policing is a very meaningful profession, even though sometimes it gets a bad rap. We usually see people on their worst days, but those positive outcomes from crisis calls are what we live for. While we can’t save everyone, even saving one life makes our job worthwhile. Those are the moments we can look back on and be proud of.”
Archer says he joined OPS specifically because he wanted to make a difference in Ottawa, where he and his family live. Besides, he says he has been fortunate to have bosses who have allowed him to do the work he’s wanted to do, including his various community and youth-led initiatives, many of which have helped steer at-risk youth along the right path and keep them from getting on the wrong side of the law.
So how has policing and OPS in particular changed over the past decade? “I think OPS is constantly changing to adapt to the changing times and to various situations like COVID or global events that impact us here in Ottawa. OPS is also committed to aligning the force with community needs and building their trust through better policing and newer initiatives. I believe OPS has become very progressive over the years in terms of technology upgradation, integrating AI in its services, improving how we respond to crisis calls, and bringing in more community voices and academics to gain different perspectives.”
Archer leads the C.H.A.N.G.E. initiative team that was set up last January following recommendations by a jury and community members after an inquest into the death of Ottawa local Abdirahman Abdi in 2016, who died in police custody after being arrested for allegedly groping a woman outside a coffee shop, while appearing to be mentally distressed at the time. Calling for better addressing of systemic gaps and improving the OPS’ mental health crisis response, the jury recommended establishing a Mental Health Advisory Council (MHAC) tasked with providing recommendations to the C.H.A.N.G.E. team on how to improve interactions with members of the public experiencing mental health issues.
Speaking about the developments since the formation of C.H.A.N.G.E. and the MHAC, Archer says, “My team of six members, including myself, started by reviewing 28 of 57 recommendations put forward by the jury and seeing how best we could implement them within the OPS. The MHAC, a standalone council comprising 13 community member experts and additionally the OPS, provide regular feedback to us on changes that can be made. We have also been collecting and analysing data from the last decade on mental health trends, which will aid in informing policy change. We have recently developed a mental health tool powered by AI to help us do this more efficiently. Training is another aspect which is ongoing and we are also actively working with our mental health crisis unit who respond to such calls daily. We should be able to share more details of our progress by the year end.”
Last year, the C.H.A.N.G.E. team collaborated with the OPS DEIMS project team for a body-worn cameras pilot project involving 30 officers. After seeing extremely positive results in terms of an auto translation feature which is able to translate over 50 languages in real time through the body worn cameras, as well as highly reduced report writing time with the aid of Draft One’s AI-supported transcription through body worn cameras, OPS is planning to deploy 200 body-worn cameras starting this fall and an additional 650 by the end of 2027. “The body-worn cameras will help us reduce downtime on administrative work in terms of report writing and make our communication more efficient in terms of the auto translation feature, enabling us to better serve the community,” Archer believes.
ABOVE (L-R): Sergeant Barmak Anvari, OPA President, Matthew Cox, OPS Sergeant Devon Archer and OPS Sergeant Chris Lavergne pictured at Memorial weekend.
What transpired as a casual comment to the OPS chief a few years ago before the inaugural Tyson Memorial match, has come to become a slogan that defines Archer. “I had told the chief at the time that I didn’t want to make the game about ‘them versus us’, so I got the Ottawa Blues FC team members and the Barundi community members to be part of mixed teams, saying to the chief that ‘if we play together, we can work together’ in terms of working with the community to address gun violence and other challenges. Somehow that line stuck,” he reminisces. However, he is quick to add that this ideal has helped drastically in forging a positive connect between the youth and police both on and off the field, especially because they are no longer intimidated by uniformed officers, having made the first interaction with them in soccer jerseys. Archer says the youth stay in touch with OPS members after the matches and regularly interact with them on the Ottawa Blues FC Instagram page. “Some of them even want to join the police force!” Archer chuckles. He adds, “These tournaments also help in enhancing our working relationships with officers from different units who we might not see on a daily basis.”
Discussing some of the challenges he’s faced over the years, Archer says that the profession itself is challenging, especially because of the need to break down barriers between the police and public by policing with empathy, respect, compassion and purpose. Archer also believes that it’s vital to stay calm and grounded in the face of difficult situations and to not take things personally, while also viewing things from the other person’s perspective, trying to understand where they are coming from. “Fundamentally, we need to let the community see the human behind the uniform and this is where my strong, positive personality shines through, because I am a people person at heart,” avers Archer.
On his dedication to youth mentorship and community building that go beyond the call of duty, Archer says that it stems from a few different places. “Growing up, I didn’t necessarily have many opportunities and so I want to help other youth who are in similar situations. That said, my mom and coaches have had the biggest impact on my life, shaping me into the person I’ve become and ensuring I was on the right trajectory. I think when you’re blessed with certain skill sets, it’s important to pass it on to the next generation and build them up, because they are our future. We need to set the right example and provide a positive and healthy framework for them to follow so that we create a strong community built on the right ideals.” Archer has instilled these same values in his children who also volunteer alongside him. In fact, his daughter was also a published writer in the Grow A Writer program some years ago.
ABOVE: Sergeant Devon Archer and OPS Constable Khalid Elfarro deliver a Grow A Writer book to youth writer Logan Bisson.
Speaking of writing, Archer says that he’s actively taken to penning his thoughts after being inspired by the youth who participate in the Grow A Writer program. “I started writing one day and realised what a healthy way it is to decompress and express your emotions and ideas, which you may not have been able to verbally. Now I have pages and pages of stuff, although I’m not planning to publish a book anytime soon,” he laughs, signing off.
To learn more about the National Capital Blues Foundation, visit https://ncbluesfoundation.org/ .
To support or participate in the Grow A Writer Program, Junior Blues Sports Program or other Ottawa Blues FC soccer tournaments, visit https://www.ottawapolice.ca/en/who-we-are/ottawa-blues-fc.aspx.
