VERNON – A group of high school students were handcuffed and put into police vehicles Wednesday in Vernon. However, it was other teens not RCMP officers applying the handcuffs. The students are all cadets at the RCMP Jean Minguy Memorial Youth Academy and Wednesday’s mock arrests were an exercise. The academy teaches students basic police skills and gives them a taste of what it’s like to be a police officer or work in emergency services. The reality of law enforcement work is not always what they expected.
“It is a lot more work than I expected and there is a lot more to being an RCMP officer than people would assume,” says cadet Avery Triggs.
Whether they are interested in a career in law enforcement or not, the academy is meant to teach some life lessons.
Schenkeveld was once a cadet himself; he’s now an RCMP officer with the North Okanagan Traffic Services. His advice to cadets: pursue what interests you.
“If the RCMP truly interests them at the end of this, by all means pursue it but at the same time pursue things you want to do outside the force,” he says.
Thirty-three students from the Shuswap and Okanagan are in Vernon this week to attend the academy.
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