A first police academy for the SPVG

The Service de police de la Ville de Gatineau (SPVG) has just concluded the first edition of its Police Academy intended for young people in Secondary 3, 4 and 5 in Gatineau. This initiative allowed ten young people to step into the shoes of a police officer for a week.

It’s a complete immersion for these young people at the Police Academy, which aims to immerse young people in the heart of the police profession. This is an opportunity for young people aged 14 to 16 to discover all the facets through four days of simulations.

The program includes responding to calls in the field, analyzing a crime scene, and investigating. In short, a week in the role of police officers.

I discovered lots of branches of law enforcement that I didn’t even know existed.

-Maxime Oblet, participant in the Police Academy

With this initiative, the Police Department hopes to curb the labor shortage that is affecting it. The SPVG is currently missing between 30 and 40 police officers.

The goal of the Academy is to attract young people to this profession. It is an investment for future recruitment. By discovering the work of a police officer, young people could choose this career.

We arrived with a multitude of initiatives and actions to put in place to counter recruitment issues and encourage people to come and work at the Gatineau Police Department.

-Mathieu Desrosiers, inspector at the Gatineau City Police Department

10 young people were selected for this first edition out of 150 applications received. There is therefore a craze for the police profession. The organizers are delighted to see such interest.

We see that young people want to discover what it is like to be a police officer. They want to be able to confirm their career choice. We want to get young people interested in the police technology program.

-Andrée East, spokesperson for the Gatineau City Police Department