POLICE ASSOCIATION OF NOVA SCOTIA 57 Teenagers and police are not the most obvious pairing. But the Police Youth Corps in New Glasgow is a program designed to change that. Const. Ken MacDonald is the co-ordinating officer for the youth corps and he says it bridges a gap between two very different groups. Participating in the program gives the community’s young people a chance to gain a better understanding about what the police do, and also learn some policing skills for themselves, like drills, traffic control and first aid. MacDonald explained that the youth corps operates under a similar structure as the real police. He says the young people involved write yearly tests and follow the same rank structure as the police. Fifteen-year-old Troy Baker from Plymouth is in his second year and just made corporal rank. As a corporal, Baker is now considered a senior member and will have to conduct lessons for the younger members. MacDonald says the youth corps is a paramilitary group. He says many of the teenagers who become involved are interested in working in emergency service in the future, which includes many professions, like paramedics, correctional officers, municipal, city or military police. After working in New Glasgow for less than two years, MacDonald already knows two former youth corps members who are now working in the emergency services, one as a paramedic and the other as a police officer. “We give them their qualifications - the first aid, the traffic,” said MacDonald. And a stint in the youth corps will always look good on an application or resume, he added. Baker says he’s always wanted to be a police officer and so he didn’t have any misconceptions about the police when he joined the youth corps. But there are cases where a young person joins the youth corps and quickly finds out police work is very different from what they may have assumed before. MacDonald remembers one teen who didn’t realize what police work involved. But after a year in the youth corps, MacDonald said the person, “definitely changed, and saw police in a more positive light.” While the program is similar to groups like the RCMP Ventures and military cadets, the Police Youth Corps uses policing structures and practices in its program. There are 11 members of the New Glasgow Police Corps, ranging in ages from 13 to 18, but MacDonald says the corps is still taking registrations. “There is a cost to the program, but we do try to make it affordable to everyone,” said MacDonald. He said sponsorship programs are available for the kids through local businesses. Baker has a keen interest in policing. He likes everything about the youth corps, from the uniform to the drills, and learning the law, but there are still opportunities for good, old-fashioned fun. There’s an annual dinner (they call it a mess), trips to other parts of the province to meet up with other youth corps divisions and even plans for a trip to Ottawa this year. Baker still corresponds with friends he made at a youth corps camp in Shearwater. YOUTH, POLICE TEAMING UP Youth corps matching up two ‘very different’ groups: MacDonald By Sarah Crane- The Evening News Sarah Crane The Evening News Troy Baker, a senior member in the New Glasgow Police Youth Corps, has always wanted to be a police officer; he says almost everything in the police station interests him. Here, Const. Ken MacDanald, the co-ordinator of the youth corps, and Baker, take a look at some radios in the New Glasgow police station. (October 25, 2003 edition)
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