OLDS — The first-ever Olds RCMP academy – a chance for youth to find out what the RCMP is all about – was a great success, says Cst. Mitch Price, who organized the camp with assistance from Cst. Pablo Gargallo.
The event, modelled on a similar program run by RCMP in Three Hills, ran from June 22-26 at École Olds Elementary School.
Twelve high school-age students applied and all were accepted.
Price told the Albertan he had been looking for up to 14, but settled for the 12, who came from École Olds High School, Olds Koinonia Christian School and Bowden Grandview School. A couple of the students had actually already graduated.
“We completely lucked out,” Price said. “Every kid that we had here was fantastic.”
It took about two months to organize the event.
Price said it was a conscious decision to look for students in grades 10-12, because he sees the academy as kind of a recruiting tool.
“It’s not only an exposure for the kids, it’s also a way for us to create relationships that are positive,” he said.
“And hopefully, if three, four, five kids end up applying for the RCMP in a couple of years because of what they experienced this week, then that’s a huge accomplishment for us as well. It never hurts to continue to get more bodies into our profession.”
Price stressed that applicants don’t just have to be interested in policing.
“One of the girls we had was pretty adamant she wants to be a paramedic. That’s fantastic,” he said. “There’s nothing saying you have to be a police officer.
“We work with paramedics all the time and she now has a little bit of insight as to what we do and what the different sections are that we have that she may be dealing with.”
During the week, students learned about a variety of aspects of policing. The idea, Price said, was to show that there are a several roles within the RCMP; not just general duty policing itself.
They underwent some fitness testing and learned how to march properly.
They got to wear some of the body armour and other equipment – but not firearms.
One of the more exciting learnings occurred when the bomb specialists came from Edmonton.
They showed the students their explosives disposal truck and “showed them all their toys,” Price said.
The students got to operate the robots that are used in bomb disposal situations.
“They got to put the bomb suit on and kind of experience the weight and the heat and everything that comes with that,” Price said, noting that during that week, temperatures soared into the 30s.
The emergency response team visited the school and explained all the aspects of the armoured tactical vehicle they would use when answering high-risk calls. They brought along their firearms and other gear.
The police dog unit also came out.
A police dog tracked a “suspect” who was bitten by the dog as part of the process.
However, the students didn’t get bitten. A dog handler outfitted with special gear took the bite.
“There is some liability obviously that comes with injuries, right? So we try and mitigate that as best we can,” Price said.
The students also learned how police handcuff people and got to try handcuffing a “suspect” themselves.
Kennedy Livingstone of Olds and Owen Hooper who lives near Didsbury, both 17 and both going into Grade 12, were two of the participants.
Livingstone said she applied because she’s been thinking about becoming a police officer.
“I want to be a cop just because I like the adrenaline,” she said. “It seems like a very exciting job to do, not just like being behind a desk all day, which I couldn’t do. I like how it’s kind of like something different every day.”
Livingstone said learning about the handcuffing was her favourite part of the week.
“I really enjoyed learning the techniques of how to do it really quickly and how to do all the little steps, like spread your feet and put out your toes when you’re trying to handcuff someone,” she said.
Livingstone said she and another girl tried to handcuff a girl who resisted. She was amazed how hard it was to complete that task in that situation.
Hooper said he applied because other jobs he was considering didn’t guarantee steady work and he believes policing would offer that steady employment.
Besides, he likes to engage and help people and he thought being in the RCMP would be an opportunity to do that.
Hooper really liked the police dog demonstration.
“I really enjoyed the police dogs, they’re really cool,” he said.
But his favourite day was when the emergency response crew came down.
“They had the big truck and all the guns and all the really heavy body armour and equipment. It was super interesting to me,” he said.
Several weeks ago, police exchanged shots with a suspect on Highway 2 near Carstairs.
Livingstone and Hooper were asked if the possibility of getting hurt – even killed – would deter them from joining the RCMP.
“Not really, because when you’re the cop, you have all the control,” Livingstone said. “Yes, they can be intimidating and they can threaten you and stuff, but when you’re cop, you have all the controls and you have all the tools to disarm them or put them in jail.”
“You have body armour and I think it would be worth it anyways,” Hooper said.
Hooper said the only aspect of the week he didn’t like was the running.
“I’m not a big runner. I don’t enjoy the running,” he said. But he agreed with Price that you just have to push yourself to improve.
Price described the week as “awesome.” He was impressed with the students.
“We had no issues, not a single issue all week long. They showed up every day, on time.
They all got along, and that’s the best thing about this,” he said.
“Some of these kids had never met each other.
“But even in that week, you saw relationships and friendships grow to the point that they may not know each other outside of here, but they’re still the first one here cheering them on when they’re doing fitness testing and they’re tired.”
When next year’s edition of the academy rolls around, Price doesn’t anticipate having more than 14 participants.
“If you have 30 kids running around trying to do them, you don’t get that small class where people get engaged and come close and aren’t afraid to ask questions,” he said. “I find people tend to go a little more silent when you have 28 other people who are going to talk.”
Price said organizers got great support from the community; not only from Chinook’s Edge School Division which made École Olds Elementary School available for the week, but also from the Town of Olds which purchased shirts and hats for the students, and from several local restaurants which supplied meals.
