Burnaby high school students are getting a taste of what it would take to pursue a career in law enforcement this week.
Twenty-five Grade 11 and 12 students from across the city are at Burnaby Central Secondary for the Burnaby RCMP's second annual youth academy.
By the end of the five-day camp Friday, local Mounties will have taken them through daily fitness and drill classes, including police defence tactics, as well as presentations from a variety of special police units, including the police mental health and outreach team, the police dog service, forensic services and the provincial explosives team.
(The emergency response team was also scheduled to present, but they were called away to an emergency.)
The youth will also learn about note-taking, the history of the RCMP, criminal law and Charter rights – and run through policing scenarios, including a break-and-enter, theft and traffic stop.
The final day Friday will see the students do a drill performance for their families before being awarded certificates.
The students represent every high school in the Burnaby school district and St. Thomas More Collegiate.
Moscrop Secondary School Grade 11 student Angela Qin said she found out about the camp from contacts she made volunteering at Burnaby RCMP's summer soccer camps for kids.
"I think policing is an option," she told the NOW at the camp Wednesday. "If I do go into policing, I would love to be a youth officer. I really love all the people here and how they interact with us and what a difference they make."
Qin said a lot of the youth at the academy are interested in policing as a career.
"There's so many presentations that's been going on; it just opens so many paths," she said.
The BC RCMP explosives disposal unit presented at the academy Wednesday afternoon, showing off some of its state-of-the-art specialized equipment, including a new remote-controlled robot that can shoot out a jet of water capable to cutting through metal and severing a bomb's circuits before it can explode.
Const. Greg Copeland told students working for the bomb squad is the coolest job in the RCMP because working the unit's array of remote-controlled devices is just like playing video games – and the officers get to blow things up.
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