Ever wonder what it's like to walk the beat of a New Westminster police officer? If you're a student in Grade 11 or 12, this is your chance to find out.
The New Westminster Police Department is once again accepting applications for its popular student police academy. The two-week program runs July 6 to 18 and offers successful applicants an opportunity to find out what it's really like to be a police officer.
"We try and touch on everything that a regular policing career would do and see what interests them," Const. Nick Ferguson told the Record.
Ferguson, who is a school liaison officer with the department, has been organizing the New Westminster student police academy for three years. Many of the students he sees applying for the program already have strong backgrounds in community participation, some have even participated in other student police academies in the Lower Mainland.
"A lot of them already do volunteering in the community whether it be with a policing agency, coaching, cadets," he said. "A lot of them are very community-minded."
Throughout the two weeks, students get a taste of all the different facets of policing, from forensic identification and canine training to arrest and control and ground fighting. They even get to take a tour in the Air 1 police helicopter.
But it's the day at the range that the students seem to enjoy the most, Ferguson said.
The student police academy has been one of the department's most popular programs for more than a decade. Each year, between 90 and 120 students from across the Lower Mainland (yes, that's right, it's open to all Grade 11 or 12 students) apply, Ferguson said.
"And that's for 20 to 24 students, depending on the class size," he said. "We have some repeats, where they'll apply one year and ... if they just haven't made it, then we tell them what to work on for next year and then they're usually successful the next year."
Students interested in attending the two-week program are required to complete an application package, which includes writing a short essay explaining why they want to participate in the police academy and why they want to become a police officer. Applicants are also required to submit a resumé, record of their most current grades, one reference letter and the necessary permission forms.
"We go through that and grade the application package, we do a background check, and then from there we can start weeding them out," Ferguson said.
The top 30 to 35 students will be contacted for an interview and from there, Ferguson will choose the successful 20 to 24 students.
Looking beyond the two-week program, Ferguson said many former police academy students end up in law enforcement.
Currently, there are six former students from the past two years enrolled in the law enforcement studies program at the Justice Institute of B.C. - one day they might even become a New Westminster police officer, Ferguson added.
"They're definitely going full steam ahead to try and get that career," he said.
Applications for the student police academy are due on April 10. For more information on the requirements and to download the application package, click here.
