Ron Seymour 2009-04-26 Kelowna Courier:
Part-time Kelowna jailer Jennifer Paquette will diversify her law enforcement experience by serving as a volunteer police officer. Paquette, 26, was one of nine people who graduated Saturday from the RCMP‘s auxiliary constable training program. “I work part time down at the city cells, and I thought I‘d come out from behind the scenes a little bit,” Paquette said with a laugh after the graduation ceremony. The new recruits will join the 51 other auxiliary constables who work alongside the full-time members at the Kelowna detachment. Supt. Bill McKinnon paid tribute to the auxiliary constables‘ willingness to serve their community. “Volunteerism is as much a Canadian tradition as the RCMP is a Canadian institution,” McKinnon said. “You are now part of the Kelowna detachment family.”
Volunteers had to complete 160 hours of training, covering everything from the Criminal Code to traffic enforcement, conflict management and arrest techniques. There‘s also a fair amount of hands-on, physical work. “They‘ve been Tasered, pepper-sprayed and engaged in a mock knife fight,” said course instructor Kerry Solinski, a reservist police officer. Auxiliary officers do not carry a gun, and they always work alongside full-time RCMP members. Some people join the auxiliary force to get a taste of policing, to see if they want to make it their career. In the past five years, about 20 auxiliary constables have gone on to train at the RCMP depot in Regina. “Serving as an auxiliary helped boost my confidence 100 times going into the (full-time training) program,” said Zak Koftinoff, who has just graduated from the depot and will begin working at the RCMP detachment in South Surrey on Monday. Twenty-year-old Steven Clements, who served as spokesman for this year‘s class of graduating auxiliary members, also hopes to go on to a career with the national police force. “I like helping people and being called upon,” said Clements, who is currently working toward a science degree at UBC Okanagan.
For her part, Paquette will keep her part-time job at the city cells as well as another job, that of program co-ordinator for a homeless shelter, while volunteering as an auxiliary constable.“I‘m hoping to volunteer at least 200 hours in the next year,” Paquette said. “I think it‘ll be interesting and important work, and it‘s a way to give back to the community.”
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