Members of the Altona Police Service will be sporting a token of appreciation while they are on the job.

As a small token for all of their hard work, and as a 'thank-you' for juggling an extra workload during the pandemic, Friesens employee-owners organized and donated money towards a Recognition Medal for members of the department.

"Friesens is proud to show their support in the community in many ways and on different levels," explained a company-issued statement, "throughout the pandemic those who have worked tirelessly to serve and protect are sometimes overlooked when it comes to the public showing appreciation for their role in the community."

"(They) went above and beyond in my opinion," said Police Chief Perry Batchelor, adding he was pleasantly surprised by the gift.

"It's cliche to say we're just doing our job, but it's always special to be thanked for what we believe to be our jobs and simply doing them," he added, noting COVID-19 has significantly impacted the department's workload and operations.

Part of that increased workload includes enforcing the ever-changing public health orders.

"We're kind of the referees in thing. We might have fifty per cent of the arena in our favour and fifty per cent thinking it was a bad call but we have our rule book right now and it's important that we play by it," said Batchelor.

Officers will wear the medals as part of their duty and dress uniforms until the Province lifts the COVID-19 state of emergency.

Batchelor feels if Manitobans abide by the public health orders, the province will make it out of this third wave.

"I want to thank so many in our community who are abiding by the public health orders. I know it's hard, it's hard on all of us, we all have those that we miss being with and...the things that were so normal fifteen months ago," he said. "I think if we truly consider everybody and try to not necessarily put ourselves first all the time, which is only human. This is about looking after everybody and our fellow citizens, and the vaccine is important, but that's only my opinion."