A total of 128 youth from the Coquitlam RCMP detachment area got a piece of paper to add to their walls last Friday after graduating from the second annual Junior Mounties Police Academy.
The July 6 ceremony at the Poirier Sport and Leisure Complex was the culmination of four days of intensive police study, when students in Grades 5 to 8 had the chance to get up and close with officers' work and their gear, including at an Interactive Emergency Response Fair held earlier that morning.
Junior Mounties, grouped into teams and clad in colour-coded t-shirts, as well as members of the public were invited to touch some equipment used by Coquitlam Search and Rescue, the RCMP's Underwater Recovery Team, the RCMP's Explosives Disposal Unit and the Lower Mainland Emergency Response Team, among others.
Participants could climb on board the RCMP boat and inside the back of a police cruiser; they were also able to watch a dummy fall out of a roll-over simulator and try on ICBC impaired vision goggles.
Out on the Centennial Oval, by Coquitlam Public Library, paramedics in a BC Ambulance helicopter landed their vehicle - much to the delight of the crowd, which lined up to sneak a peak inside afterwards.
Const. Danielle Pollock said the summer camp is funded entirely with grants and donations - including from the city of Coquitlam - and is free to students. Entry is based on a lottery system and is open to youth living in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Anmore and Belcarra.
"We had more than 300 kids apply this year, which is really phenomenal," she said, adding organizers are considering expanding the academy next year to allow more participants.
