On March 24th, 48 Vancouver high school students will have a better idea of whether they have what it takes to be police officers than they had eight days earlier.
That’s because these grade 11 and 12 students will have completed the Vancouver Police Department Student Challenge Program for 2013. Every year since 1997, the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) has offered this program to give participants a chance to experience some of what it means to be a police officer. In an interview with the Vancouver Observer, student Emily Mok explained that this is why she applied to take the program over her holiday spring break, “‘I just wanted to experience what police officers go through. I want to pursue something law enforcement related and I thought this would be a good way to see what it’s like.’”
The VPD’s official website describes the program, explaining what students experience out of the classroom and learn in it. For example, students take the Police Officer’s Physical Abilities Test (POPAT). The test, as seen in this video, involves leaping over obstacles and other physically challenging tasks police officers must be able to do.
Of this year’s students, one of the first to finish the course was Henry Orsina. In speaking to the Vancouver Observer, he said the following about his POPAT experience, “‘I’m feeling not so bad – a bit tired – but not so bad,” he said. “I feel like I could have pushed it a bit harder near the end though.’”
Students like Orsina also go to a ranch in Maple Ridge, a local suburb, for some additional hands-on experience. According to VPD’s website, students live on the ranch for four days and participate in “reality based training scenarios, team challenges and patrol shift simulations.”
In the classroom, students get instruction in a variety of topics, including: legal studies, firearms training, and investigation and patrol. Specialty squads send representatives to give lectures and demonstrations about several subjects, such as how police dogs are used in law enforcement and evidence gathering and preservation.
Once students complete both the classroom and hands-on components of the program, they have a graduation ceremony in which they receive certificates for their efforts. As of March 24th, more than 600 students will have completed the program since 1997.
