Once a problem program, Kelowna’s RCMP Auxiliary constables are now considered the best in Canada, according to Supt. Bill McKinnon. The city’s top cop told Kelowna city council credit is owed to Kerry Solinsky who spends his Saturdays 17 weeks a year in the station to deliver the Justice Institute training needed to put the volunteer force on the road. When he took over the program seven years ago, the auxiliaries were going through transition from a force that carried weapons to one that didn’t and since then Solinsky’s built a program the superintendent believes to be the best in B.C., if not Canada. “I don’t think the general public see a difference between the auxiliary and our regular officers. They see it as pants with a yellow stripe down the side. That’s a police officer and that’s somewhere they can get help,” the superintendent said. The auxiliary officers contributed 13,496 volunteer hours of community policing to Kelowna last year.
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