Twenty grade eleven and twelve students from various high schools in Abbotsford are spending their spring break all this week to learn what it is like to be a police officer. The twenty students were carefully selected from a group of over forty applicants to participate in the program which will teach basic law, police control tactics/self-defence, and even a day at the firearm range. The week-long program ends with the students applying what they have learned during a scenario-based training day where they will be challenged as “police officers” to resolve problems. All participants will also ride-along the side of a police officer during a real shift out on the road.
“This is a week we always really look forward to,” said Youth Squad officer and JPA coordinator Cst. Robyn Lamarche. “It provides students a glimpse of what it’s like to be a police officer by testing their abilities as if they were one.”
The JPA runs Monday thru Friday this week.