RCMP Youth Academy begins Sunday

PRINCE GEORGE — College Heights Secondary School will host the RCMP’s Youth Academy beginning on Sunday (March 16).

It will continue until March 22 with 21 students selected to participate. RCMP say the experience will give students a sneak-peak of what the RCMP training academy, known as Depot, is like.

The students and their Mountie facilitators will sleep, eat, and learn at the school. Activities will include drill practice, handcuffing, and the Police Fitness Assessment (PFA). They will also take classes in Indigenous Policing, Criminal Code offenses, and powers of arrest, among other subjects.

“The students participate in mock court trials and several different live-action scenarios that test the knowledge they have gained throughout the week. They will meet with police officers from Forensic Identification, Police Dog Tactics and even take a tour of the RCMP hangar. Their days are long, beginning at 6:00 a.m. and running until 11:00 p.m. every day, simulating the workload we experience as recruits at Depot”, states Cpl. Jennifer Cooper, Media Relations Officer for the Prince George RCMP.