LPS Youth Academy offers students insight into law enforcement careers
High school students from across the city had the opportunity to get an inside look at what it’s like to be a police officer.
On Friday, 14 students participated in Lethbridge Police Service’s second annual Youth Academy. However, it’s the third time LPS will take students to Calgary for the annual Student Police Academy.
“We like to do a pre-academy first off where the kids apply through the school to come that are interested in policing, and we give them the chance just to see what we do and see if it’s for them and if they’re interested in advancing in it,” said Const.. Kim Pierzchala, a school resource officer.
LPS informed students and counsellors of the opportunity at the start of the school year.
“As it gets closer, March or April, we start printing out applications and us, as the School Resource Unit, go out and try and recruit and work along with the schools, the admin and the counselling staff to recruit them,” said Pierzchala.
Throughout the day there were demonstrations from various units like the explosive disposal unit, the tactical unit and the K9 unit.
“Just a little bit of an in-house lesson for them so they’re prepared to go to Calgary,” Pierzchala added.
Next week, students will travelling to Calgary for a full day to participate in the Student Police Academy.
“We leave at 4:30 in the morning and come back at about 7 at night, so they’re pretty tired, but Calgary does a really good job.”
Calgary Police Service closes down Heritage Park for the day and hires professional actors.
“They get to run through scenarios and actually get to be police officers for the day,” Pierzchala noted.
Ultimately, the academy allows students the opportunity to see if policing is a career they want to pursue.
“It’s a great recruitment process and it’s a good time to get kids thinking about it. It’s not easy and it takes a long process to become a police officer,” said Pierzchala. She said if students start thinking about it at an earlier age, they can have more time to decided if they like to pursue it in post secondary, like she did.
Kara Smith, a Grade 10 student from Chinook High School, attended this year’s Police Academy and she’s been thinking about policing for a long time.
“I’ve been interested in policing since I was 10,” said Smith. When she heard about the opportunity, she knew she had to apply.
“I got the package two days later saying I got in and I got really excited,” she said. “When I got here, I was overly excited and last night I barely could sleep because I get to actually go do stuff and learn how to do policing stuff and everything.”
“There’s a lot of different units and it’s a lot of fun, even just watching,” added Smith. “Earlier, we got to go out and patrol traffic and we got to pull somebody over because they were speeding. We got to hand back their registration and everything and just tell them to have a great day and just drive slower. It was a really fun experience.”