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West Shore
2024-11-27 07:00 PST
This year, Mayors and Chiefs from West Shore Communities were invited to tour the RCMP Academy-Depot Division, in Regina, Saskatchewan. Depot has been training members of the RCMP since 1885.
Mayor Doug Kobayashi (Colwood), Mayor Ken Williams (Highlands), Mayor Scott Goodmanson (Langford), and Mayor Marie-Térèse Little (Metchosin) were able to attend.
Part 1 - West Shore leaders visit Depot Division, home of the RCMP training facility
[ Video starts with a text that reads: This year, Mayors and Chiefs from West Shore Communities were invited to tour the RCMP academy- Depot Division, in Regina, Saskatchewan. Depot has been training members of the RCMP since 1885. Mayor Doug Kobayashi (Colwood), Mayor Ken Williams (Highlands), Mayor Scott Goodmanson (Langford), and Mayor Marie-Térèse Little were able to attend.]
Cpl. Hiebert: Most of the people in the country have no idea what goes on behind these fences. Even people in the city of Regina don’t know what happens here and I think we need to tell our story.
[Cpl. Hiebert speaks with four West Shore mayors and Supt. Preston outside the Drill Hall][Four West Shore Mayors outside the Drill Hall]
Mayor Scott Goodmanson: I don’t think you can really understand or fully comprehend what goes on around here without actually being here. We’ve read about it and, we’ve heard about it for years, but, actually just seen the entirety of what is going on between all of the different levels of training, everything happening at once and the service they provide it really was eye-opening.
[Mayors Goodmanson and Little with Supt. Preston watch cadets training in gym][Mayor Kobayashi and Supt. Preston watch cadets Firearms training through window][Cpl. Hiebert speaks with four West Shore mayors and Supt Preston]
Mayor Marie-Therese Little: I think it’s important for us to be here to understand the training. So, when constituents ask us why do we need a force of five or a force of 15, we can explain to them what kind of training that goes on here that can’t be found just in one classroom or one gymnasium.
[Close up of Mayor Kobayashi and Supt. Preston listening during tour][Close up of Mayor Little][Close up of Mayors Goodmanson and Williams][Four West Shore Mayors speaking to an RCMP officer][Depot Training Instructor shows Mayor Goodmanson fitness records wall plaque][Four West Shore Mayors walking outside brick building][Mayor Kobayashi listening to Cpl. Hiebert speak]
Superintendent Todd Preston: You know over the years just speaking with the Mayors and Councils, it was abundantly clear that they don’t have a full grasp or perception of the training that an RCMP officer goes through. So, I really wanted our Mayors and our Councillors and our Chiefs to see firsthand the training from day one when a cadet shows up from all diverse backgrounds from across this country- to the 6-month mark where they complete their training. So that they can come back to their communities and provide the best possible service in terms of protective policing and policing in general.
[Four West Shore Mayors and Supt. Preston speak with Depot Commanding Officer Chief Superintendent Mike Lokken][Close up if Mayors Kobayashi and Williams][Four West Shore Mayors and Supt. Preston speak with C/Supt. Mike Lokken][Mayors Little, Kobayashi, and Williams listening on tour][Four West Shore Mayors, Supt. Preston, and Cpl. Hiebert speaking. Several cadets stand in background wearing their Red Surge][Four Mayors walk by a Troop of cadets lined up outside Depot building][Four Mayors listening to Supt. Preston inside Drill Hall][Fours Mayors watching a graduation ceremony for Troop 20][Mayors Goodmanson and Williams shake hands with graduating cadets]
Cpl. Herbert: I think the more people in those positions we can have come and see what it is we do and why we do what we do, and the quality of cadets that we are putting through depot. I think they would be more assured in the quality of members that they are getting when we send them to their detachments. So, they can rest easy knowing that when we send a cadet to a detachment anywhere they are well trained ready to go and they are professional and that’s what we’re putting out as a product here.
[Mayor Williams speaking with C/Supt. Lokken] [West Shore Mayors shaking hands with RCMP Officers][West Shore Mayors listening to Cpl. Hiebert in Firearms training building][West Shore Mayors and Cpl. Hiebert viewing RCMP police vehicle][All four West Shore Mayors and Supt. Preston smiling for photo outside the A.B. Perry Building]
West Shore RCMP
Part 2 - West Shore learns about Cadet Training Program at Depot
Superintendent Preston: I think it’s important, not only for the Mayors, but for the general public to see their National Police Force which serves federally provincially and municipally, that they are able to adapt and modernize and become a police service that any community can be proud of.
[Canadian and Depot flags flying at Depot][Cadets marching in the Parade Square][Cadet stands at edge of the Parade Square][Close up of RCMP Forge Cap]
Cpl. Herbert: Cadets are here for 26-weeks of training. During that time, they experience Applied Police Sciences, which is the academic portion of training, fitness training, police defensive tactics training, driving unit and firearms training unit and, simulator. So, the cadets are extremely busy from the very first week they get here and the work just continues right through.
[Cadets watching Instructor demonstrate police tactics] [Cadets training on virtual driving simulator] [Training vehicle driving on closed training course] [Cadets listening to instructors during firearms training] [New cadets, lined up, listening to instructors][Cpl. Hiebert, Supt. Preston, and Mayor Williams talking]
Mayor Ken Williams: What I saw here was very comprehensive and I was very impressed with the way they’re dealing with our new society as Canada.
[Close up of Mayors Goodmanson, Kobayashi, and Williams with Supt. Preston]
Mayor Doug Kobayashi: Very progressive. Learning right now that a little more time is being spent on mental health side, the mental health training right now. I thought that was so encouraging. You know you can see it’s just not all tradition, that they are aware of what’s happening in society right now.
[Mayors Kobayashi and Williams speaking with Depot Commanding Officer Chief Superintendent Mike Lokken][Cadets in classroom] [Close up of Mayor Kobayashi and Supt. Preston][Four West Shore Mayors, Supt. Preston, and Cpl. Hiebert speaking outside the Police Defensive Tactics Building] [Four West Shore Mayors and Supt. Preston talking in the Drill Hall]
Superintendent Preston: The mayors that came with me were extremely impressed. They thought it was a world-class facility. They felt that the training has certainly modernized from what their initial thoughts were going to be coming onto this base which has always been kind of coined as a very militaristic base. And, I think once upon a time it was, it was very paramilitary. It still has a little bit of that to it but it has significantly modernized.
[Mayors walking outside of A.B Perry Building] [Four West Shore Mayors, Cpl. Hiebert, and Supt. Preston outside the Drill Hall] [Aerial view of a ceremony on the Parade Square] [RCMP officers training with a Police Dog] [Group of cadets listening to an instructor] [RCMP divisional flags and provincial flags hanging in the Drill Hall] [Four Mayors walk by a Troop of cadets lined up outside Depot building][Troop dressed in Red Serge lined up in formation in the Drill Hall][Drill Hall historical information poster] [Drill instructor marching past cadets near Parade Square]
Cpl Dean Miller: The Drill and Deportment Unit is obviously a part of the cadet training program where we are trying to develop future police officers. We’re not just merely teaching them to march around in circles. We are teaching them actual policing skills, actual operational policing skills. So, that might mean that they are developing a bit of resiliency or composure in the face of a bit of adversity. It could also mean that they’re learning to work as a part of a team. Being part of something bigger than just themselves.
[Instructors observe cadets marching in formation on the Parade Square] [Cadets march in the Parade Square][Overhead shot of RCMP police vehicles lined up on street within Depot grounds] [Instructor observing cadets in a live scenario] [Cadets training in gym] [Sargent Major inspecting troops on Parade Square] [Graduating cadets in Red Surge hug and congratulate each other at the end of their final ceremony][Four West Shore Mayors speaking to RCMP officer] [RCMP ‘Core Value’ poster hanging at Depot] [Cadets in classroom]
Commanding Officer of Depot Division Chief Superintendent Mike Lokken: Depot is the oldest division in the RCMP. It’s been around, next year we are celebrating our 140 th anniversary. So, to remain relevant to Canadian Society, obviously we have had to adapt and change. In our curriculum itself, we make in the neighbourhood about 300 changes every year. Now, some of them are minor tweaks and some of them are major changes. Like for example, scenarios, obviously the scenarios we had 10 years ago are not the same scenarios we have now. We look at them through an equality lens, we look at them to be representative of Canadian society. We look at them through a number of perspectives.
[Historical photos of Depot]
[Two cadets stand together, overlooking the Parade Square] [Two RCMP police vehicle with emergency lights activated at Depot] [West Shore Mayors and Cpl. Hiebert viewing RCMP police vehicle][Instructor observing a cadet in a live scenario, talking on their radio][Close up of cadet] [Cadet in a simulated scenario on a screen][Cadets training in a live scenario] [Two RCMP police vehicles driving in Depot parking lot][Cadets walking into a building] [Cadet talking to an actor in a live scenario] [Cadet putting handcuffs on an actor in a live scenario] [Cadets walking together]
Mayor Ken Williams of Highlands: It’s a great facility. It’s like the Harvard for Police academy. It’s the buildings, the history here is amazing. The facilities are fantastic. It’s amazing the different kind of aspects of society they cover here.
[Ariel shot of A.B Perry Building and the Parade Square] [Close up of RCMP’ engraved in stone on the A.B Perry Building][Close up of RCMP crest and cadet patches on shoulder of a jacket] [Cadets in Red Serge marching in the Drill Hall]
RCMP’ engraved in stone on the A.B Perry Building][Close up of RCMP crest and cadet patches on shoulder of a jacket] [Cadets in Red Serge marching in the Drill Hall]
Superintendent Todd Preston: I can assure you what I witnessed on base and with the mayors witnessed watching the hundreds and hundreds of cadets go through the programming, the modern-day programming. There is no doubt that we are delivering on the knowledge skills and abilities for these individuals to come into our communities and do an effective job at policing.
[Supt. Preston and C/Supt. Lokken inspecting Graduating Troop in Drill Hall] [Four West Shore Mayors and Supt. Preston listening to Cpl. Hiebert speak] [Four West Shore Mayors, Supt. Preston, and C/Supt. Lokkenwatching graduation ceremony] [Mayors Goodmanson and Little and Supt. Preston watch cadets train in gym] [Cadets doing push ups in gym][Mayor Kobayashi and Supt. Preston watch cadets Firearms training through window]
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Email: westshore_media@rcmp-grc.gc.ca Website: westshore.rcmp-grc.gc.ca (English only)
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