POWER MOVE: GPD officer preps for World Police and Fire Games in Canada

GREENFIELD — Nicole Higham grabbed the weightlifting wraps and pulled them tightly as she wound them around and around her wrists for support. She then flexed her fingers before settling on the bench to pump a few hundred-pound sets during a warm up.

“I’m strong but my wrists are kind of weak, so I need the support,” Higham said.

The term “weak” really isn’t a word anyone would ever associate with Higham who, at 5 feet, 8 inches and 215 pounds, is as solid as a rock. Higham is in the midst of her second year as a Greenfield Police Department officer.

Each day before her shift starts, Higham spends at least two hours in the GPD workout room, located in the GPD basement, lifting weights. While the workouts help keep her fit and safe for the job, lifting weights is also one of her passions, something she pursues world-wide and all-out.

“Weight lifting is my bread and butter,” she said.

Higham is working out more so than she normally does in preparation for the 2023 World Police and Fire Games in Manitoba, Canada from July 28 through August 5. Held biennially, the World Police and Fire Games is an Olympic-style competition with more than 8,500 athletes representing law enforcement officers, firefighters and first responders from 60 plus countries across the world competing in 63 sports.

Higham, 28, an Avon native, is now a county resident who will compete in two events while in Canada — the deadlift and the bench press.

“I’m feeling confident and have done some research on former winners, so I know what I have to do to win this thing,” Higham said. “Last year, the winning deadlift was 305 pounds. I’m planning on opening at 350 or 380 pounds.”

Her max deadlift is well over 400 pounds, she said. That’s something her father, a former United States Marine, Higham noted, would be proud of.

“I’m a big, strong girl — not overweight, but just strong like my dad,” she said. “I am a rock and I’m proud of my size and my strength.”

Higham, a former high school swimmer, always lifted weights in high school but became a serious weightlifter when she discovered the sport at a CrossFit competition. That’s where she stumbled upon a Mas Wrestling competition (a Russian stick wrestling event) in 2015 and was asked to participate.

Not only did she take part, she ended up winning the event.

“That’s when some people told me I should transition from CrossFit because I am so strong, so I did,” she said. “I’ve competed at world events in that sport three times and have been a gold medal winner twice.”

Higham also participates in Strongman competitions where participants pick up things like concrete stones and logs to show their strength.

“I’ve done that type of competition all over the country and all over the world since around 2015,” Higham said.

While Higham thought she’d have a career in the military, she ended up working for Indiana University Health out of high school for a few years in their maintenance and welding department. It wasn’t until a few years later when she took a ride-along with the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department that she found out police work is what she was really wanted to do.

Higham ended up going through the hiring process with the GPD in May of 2021 and became a part of the department shortly after. She’ll celebrate her second full year as a GPD officer in October.

“I love being a police officer because I love helping people and my past experiences help me understand people,” Higham said. “I’m glad I started out with IU Health because it helped me grow up and I was in a male-dominated field there, but that work, it helped built me to be successful in a male-dominated field now.”

Chief Brian Hartman refers to Higham as a great person who just wants to give back to the community and someone who will be successful in whatever she does.

“She is always happy and always seems to have a smile on her face,” Hartman said. “Her positivity just shines through and is contagious.”

Hartman however noted no one should be fooled by her kind nature, because underneath her smile, Higham is quite competitive and he’s certain she’ll perform well at the upcoming games.

“I can assure you she has and is putting the work in,” Hartman said. “When she arrives in Canada and begins to compete, they will know she came for one reason and that is to try and be the best.”

Hartman said there is nothing like having officers like Higham who want to represent the department and the city.

“I am proud that she wants to not only represent the Greenfield Police Department, but the entire City of Greenfield,” Hartman said. “She is just an all-around good person and we are proud that she wears the Greenfield Police Department badge.”

Members of the GPD have participated as part of the police Indiana basketball team at the World Games in the past and even won the event a few years ago (2016). Higham is hoping to be the first individual event winner for the department at the upcoming games.

“I think I’ll do pretty well at the games because I’m super driven and once I set a goal I will pretty much bury myself until I achieve that goal,” Higham said. “I’ve hardly ever come in less than third at anything I’ve competed in except for I think twice maybe.”

As for her career, the long term goal is to put in the time on the streets and study to become a detective for the department.

“Everyone has been super supportive since I’ve been here and I’m so thankful for that,” she said.