By Jill Sperling

Students spend spring break at RCMP Youth Academy

Mar 19, 2019 | 4:37 PM

KAMLOOPS — He may look cute and cuddly, but police dog, Fargo, has a job to do. 

Fargo and his handler Cpl. Steve Prior, are demonstrating to high school students how the Police Dog Section of the RCMP operates and what they do.

“We search for a lot of missing people, we search for evidence, narcotics, explosives, we also help with Emergency Response Team,” Prior said.

22 Youth Academy recruits are taking in this presentation and numerous other throughout the week, learning as much as they can about the work and training regimen of RCMP officers. 

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“Every RCMP officer goes to Depot in Regina Saskatchewan,” said Cst. Dustin Meikle, “which is the training grounds, and it’s give or take a couple weeks a six month experience where you learn driving, firearms, all the basics for policing … we try and take that experience and bring it down to five, five and a half days and we do it here at Brock Middle School.”

The youth stay in ‘dorms’ inside the school and are subject to regular inspections to get the full experience of dept. 

“It’s been a really interesting experience, we’ve gotten to have bunk mates, and pretty much assemble our barracks, make sure they’re up to standard and neat and tidy,” said 16-year-old Arrison Jyrkkanen. “It’s really important here that we work together as a team, so I love that team building aspect.”

“I expected a little more laid back, not going to lie, like not as early mornings, not as early lights out and with phone restrictions and stuff like that,” said academy student Kila Pigeon. 

Many of the students plan to go into policing, analyzing each presentation to determine which unit would suit them best. 

“I think working with the dogs is most interesting for me and learning new things about the dogs,” said academy student Luigi Comita. 

“One, I love dogs,” said Jyrkkanen. “And two, I love that aspect of the RCMP. If I do go in that would be something I would seriously consider.”

While condition at the short-term depot are anything but easy, it doesn’t appear anyone’s passion for policing has been extinguished. 

“Now that I’m finishing high school it’s become so real, especially being here it’s like ‘wow, this is what it’s going to be like in years from now for six months, not just a week,’” said Pigeon.