In the snow and bitter cold, transit safety officer #235 is following heavy footsteps.

There was her grandfather, who was a police officer. Her uncle was the same. Even her father was a cop, before her mother had the idea to bring the family to Canada from Bosnia to carve out a new life in 1995.

The family calls it ‘blue blood’ – as much a part of their DNA as their enviable height.

“Growing up, this (career) was always on my mind,” she says.

“My parents taught us to always be the first to step forward and help people.”

Now, on this particular winter’s day, as Toronto huddles against a -30C wind-chill – and after months of training – officer Tihana Karanovic heads out on her inaugural shift with her new Transit Safety platoon.

From the start of this first day until her shift ends – patrolling downtown Toronto’s Union Station and jumping on various GO Transit rail lines which reach and stretch out into the Greater Golden Horseshoe – new officer Karanovic will walk more than 14 kilometres.

That’s the first 19,116 steps of her new career.

And wouldn’t you know it, considers James Kim, those footsteps just had to lead her to his seat on GO train 886 as it heads toward Stouffville.

A hectic day for the 21-year-old student – and now a Hell of an afternoon.

He’s forgotten to use his PRESTO card to tap on and pay. And officer Karanovic is politely standing on the rumbling train, holding his card, asking him what had happened?

“I was on auto-pilot,” he explains to her, adding: “I guess I have to get more sleep.”

The wake-up call costs him a $100 ticket.

As Karanovic leaves, he stares at the paper citation with resignation and says the officer was pleasant enough, and things happen, and sometimes you forget and he’ll remember the next time. But it would have been nice, he admits, if he hadn’t been part of her first new patrol.

That likely wouldn’t have made a difference, because she is far from alone in watching over customers while patrolling Canada’s busiest transit footprint. Karanovic is among nearly 100 officers who work for Transit Safety. A class of 16 new recruits will also start soon, with the possibility of another ten or more officers added throughout the year as officers move onto police departments, retire or take on promotion assignments in Transit Safety.

The jacket she wears says ‘special constable’, but until she is officially sworn in during a ceremony that will likely happen next month, she is a provincial offences officer.

Though over this first shift, travellers – as well as a man in a red ball-cap who she quietly questions after a complaint he was being belligerent to passersby – will simply see her as someone to take seriously.

As well as a tour guide. And direction booth attendant. And finder of lost smartphones.

Wherever she and her partner on this shift – special constable Tyler Kay, who’s been a transit officer since 2010 – travel, they are peppered with questions from passengers hurriedly looking for something.

Or offering the officers assistance.

On another recent cold day, officer Kay was manning a wind-swept platform when a woman got off a warm GO train. She held out her own scarf and insisted he wear it.

“She saw that I had a bit of frostbite starting, and wanted to help,” Kay explains.

“I told her I’d get inside soon and that I was OK. It was a really nice thing for her to do.”

Karanovic’s first shift with fellow officer Kay and her new platoon will be filled with largely quiet moments with customers – including answering their questions, checking fares and making sure they get onto their train safely during the evening rush on platform 13.

But the constant backdrop for all front-line public safety officers, no matter where they patrol, is that things can go from quiet to chaotic in a heartbeat. Proof of that, on this particular day, is found on the other side of Canada. As Karanovic’s first patrol with her new platoon will go off without any major incident, as she walks her first steps, Vancouver Transit Police Const. Josh Harms is shot and wounded on a SkyTrain platform.

Transit systems are circulatory systems of society – a steady flow of every temperament, disposition and character.

Metrolinx’s Transit Safety Communications team deals with various crime related situations – fatalities, trespassing on the rail corridors, major events, assisting other departments or police services, parking issues and customer concerns. Then add the normal and crucial proactive patrols Karanovic is on today, ensuring the safety of passengers and reliability that keeps the nation’s most important public transit system moving.

During a 7 a.m. briefing at the start of her patrol, Sgt. Morgan Wilson, supervisor of Transit Safety Central Operations for GO Transit, tells the officers they’ll make constant decisions over the course of their shift. But the goal is a singular one.

“There are a 1,000 ways to skin a cat,” Wilson tells them of policing the system. “Think about how you want to make it safer.”

He will say later that there is a reason Karanovic was voted by her recruit class to represent them as valedictorian – she gains respect through her attitude.

“I personally have noticed a genuine characteristic of compassion and have observed her just wanting to assist people in any way she can,” he explains. “She possesses natural leadership characteristics such as respect for all, having an open mind, and a desire to continuously improve that will take her far in this company.”

As she makes her rounds, she considers advice she was given by a senior officer during her training – to lean in and be proactive while on patrol. To not miss anything, and allow it to create a bigger problem.

Her new platoon is glad for her diligence – on this first day with them and those yet to come.

Just as her own family is for her following their footsteps – the path starting on the other side of the globe.

When she received her new Transit Safety uniform, she sent a photo to them back in Bosnia. Her grandfather dwelled on the Karanovic family name engraved on her ID-tag, sitting right next to a small Canadian flag.

His eyes said he was very proud – clearly seeing the path beyond those first 19,116 steps.

For more information and how to apply to become a transit safety officer, click right here.

And to read a recent story that shows what a difference they make in saving lives, click right here.