Red Deer students get day-in-the-life experience of RCMP officers at Youth Academy session

Students then met with various RCMP departments such as police dog services, criminal intelligence, traffic, and learned police duties such as processing a collision scene, arrest techniques, communication, and other training.

“It shows them some of the skills we need, it shows the importance of maintaining physical health, it also helps see how we communicate with others, and it also opens the door to see that there’s more to us than just the uniform; there’s more to us than just a job. They can see us as individuals, we can joke around with them and have some fun,” said Constable Jeff Bond with the YCAT team.

Bond says the YCAT team focuses on establishing a good relationship with youth and diverting them away from conflict with the law.

After hosting town halls with students to hear how RCMP can continue to improve that relationship, he says students responded that they wanted to see officers have more fun with youth.

“The one thing we’re seeing is kids aren’t running away from us as much. So, when we show up, they’re actually talking to us, they’re asking us questions, they’re joking around with us a little bit more,” he said.

High school students interested in the field as a potential future career applied for the sessions through their school board’s career team.

One of those Grade 12 students was Holly Bickley from Notre Dame High School, having applied on the last day after seeing a poster in the hallway.

Notre Dame High School Grade 12 student Holly Bickley at the Youth Academy session at Red Deer Polytechnic on Wednesday. (rdnewsNOW/Alessia Proietti)

The 17-year-old said she has considered a career in policing for roughly 10 years now after seeing the RCMP horses at a parade when she was a child.

“I’m really invested in the law system; I always thought that was a really cool idea and I’ve always looked up to them [RCMP] as heroes so I thought it would be really cool spending my life helping other people live theirs,” she said.

Having grown up on a farm, she likes the option of combining her passion for animals within a career in the RCMP, through their horses and service dogs. She added that she hopes to start a new tradition within her family in the police force.

“My family, they’re kind of nervous for me, not going to lie. They said I should become a lawyer because I’ve been so good at arguing against them for this, but they’ve been very supportive of me,” she said jokingly.

A long-distance runner, she said the PACE test at the session was more challenging than she had expected, but she felt motivated by the supportive officers and enjoyed the informative nature of the program.

Bond says while these sessions were done in past years, the YCAT team is bringing them back and hoping to reestablish them as an annual event for students. He added that other departments in Alberta do similar initiatives, like the K Division’s summer camp where youth can live as officers for a week at their provincial headquarter barracks in Edmonton.

“A lot of [the] public just see us doing enforcement. We want to break down some barriers because there’s lots of stuff we do,” he said, adding that officers are a part of the community in various ways through coaching, playing in sports leagues, and volunteering at organizations.

He says basic requirements to become an officer are a high school diploma and a minimum age of 19 as the RCMP provides all needed training. He said post secondary education and work experience are highly recommended.

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by Alessia Proietti

Red Deer students get day-in-the-life experience of RCMP officers at Youth Academy session

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