What Canadian Mounties Go Through At Boot Camp

Nunez in what year did we become the Royal Canadian Mounted Police 1920 really that's what you're gonna give me that's as loud as you can be 1920 my goodness heaven forbid the day you have to yell at someone stop police drop the knife because they're coming at you with an edged weapon there's no whispering there's no room for meek and mild in this job these cadets are training to become members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police more commonly known as the Mounties but before they dawn the iconic scarlet tunic known as the red Serge all cadets have to graduate from the RCMP 26-week training program which combines an intense tactical training with customs and traditions that are steeped in Canadian history every year about 1,000 cadets graduate from the Academy before joining the 20,000 RCMP officers serving across the country on a bitterly cold week in December we spent five days at the academy where we saw different troops at various stages of the 26 week training program on day one a new troop is welcomed by the Academy's commanding officer everybody wants you to be successful we're incredibly happy that you're finally sitting in these seats as members of troop 29 and we want you to be successful but we're not gonna do it for you you have to do it for yourselves the application process which includes a polygraph test can take about eight months everybody took a year out of your life to finally get here we sometimes see cadets go home after 24 hours it takes probably a couple of weeks to get used to the routine so give it at least a couple of weeks work hard have some fun and good luck are we a kinder police organization that is a comment that we actually verbally say out loud now we're in the service industry we're out there to serve the Canadian public so if we create that type of environment we're hopeful that the cadets will remember that and when they are out in their various communities that they will continue to work with the communities as they were trained training happens here at RCMP Academy Depot division located in Regina Saskatchewan about 100 miles north of the US border it's a region of Canada known as the Prairie where during our visit to Regina sustained winds combined with the low temperature made it consistently feel about negative 25 degrees Fahrenheit the starting salary for a constable in the RCMP is about 53,000 dollars a year after three years it increases to about 86,000 applicants must be at least 19 years old and willing to relocate anywhere in Canada including remote provinces like Yukon and Nunavut the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as we know it today was founded in 1920 the Canadian Rockies the legendary Mounties are the symbol of law and order in this vast domain although they're called Mounties the RCMP isn't a Mounted Police Force and horses are only used for ceremonial events we're not what you see in the movies from Hollywood people see the red jackets pointy hats on black horses and they think that's what the RCMP is but we're police officers first and foremost and I think that's probably the biggest misconception the reality is policing back roads and small towns by yourself we are a police force that's the biggest message and it all starts here at Depot where most of the training is focused on mastering police procedure practiced in realistic scenarios where cadets play the roles of both the officer and the suspect anything that you do say to me can be used as evidence do you understand yeah I just want to learn I messed up I didn't mean to I'm not that type of person okay good to know can I get a 1028 1029 the pros on a Saskatchewan marker when ready we're trying to prepare them for the realities of policing you have anything on you that could hurt me or you policing isn't an easy profession we make the program such that they will be physically and mentally prepared but they also have to have common sense they have to know their powers of arrest they have to know the law so it's a real combination of two things that need to happen all at once male and female cadets trained together at depo and even faced each other in police defensive tactics training or PDT obviously in policing we don't choose our opponent we're not going to be always be matched with a normal-size like you would see in a sport of boxing or MMA most of our cadets come here without any backgrounds at all some of them have never been involved in a fight so it's very difficult for them to understand how to deal with a situation like that cadets are faced with additional disadvantages sometimes they're only allowed to use one hand or they're only allowed to use leg strikes another exercise requires one combatant to spin around in circles before the fight begins an opponent out there in the street it could happen that you get hit in the head and that can create some kind of busyness a little bit of a concussion type of scenario we want to make sure that they have this kind of understanding without putting them into a concussion to help you because we don't want them to be hurting themselves but with punches flying minor injuries do occur sometimes some things like that happens we try to mitigate that as much as we can so it's almost a good thing that he can feel that so then if it happens in the field knows how to deal with it in this scenario cadets attempt to subdue and aggressive assailant and apply handcuffs but it's not easy to make the scenario more challenging cadets are matched up with assailants who are bigger and stronger than they are whose objective is to try and grab the gun and baton from the cadets duty belt the reason that we do this is basically to allow the police officer to reassess the totality of that situation and now that jeopardy has raised for the police officer they should be able to reassess that situation and I was like communication is the big key here they want to communicate with their partner and then come up with a new plan based on their risk assessment which is always evolving nobody dies at depo this is the place to make mistakes because when police officers make mistakes people get hurt some of the stuff they see and will see is not nice and we need to help prepare them for that physically and mentally being exposed to pepper spray is a common part of law enforcement training and it's no different in the RCMP we want them to get an appreciation for using pepper spray so they understand essentially that it's painful and so they understand that it works it's effective and that they can fight through it if they are exposed to OC spray themselves they do 50 jumping jacks so we just want to get their heart rate up just to simulate as if they were in some sort of a physical altercation perhaps they then go into the actual chamber where it's been contaminated with pepper spray you've already gone 17 arrests and then they have to make an arrest on the subject inside that chamber keeping their eyes open being aware of their surroundings and fighting through that painful experience but in depo cadets take it to another level after being exposed cadets exit the facility and perform an arrest in the freezing cold would you like to speak to a lawyer when we get back to the office they probably barely noticed the cold when they're out there is after immediately after the exposure it's only once that the effects have worn off that they realized it's actually cold outside they actually will help somewhat with numbing that pain of the pepper spray once they get back into a warmer environment just adjust volume is everybody able to hear me over there like what can you hear me okay you guys okay okay the things that I say are so important cadets fire between 800 and 900 rounds during their 65 hours of training on the firing range probably 15-20 percent of the cadets that show up have some sort of firearms experience whether that's pistol shotgun rifle or hunting we're able to take someone with absolutely no pistol or firearms experience and make them quite good shooters and successful through the program so week two they're actually issued their service pistol Smith & Wesson 59 46 that is their pistol and it will follow them through their career until they so retire or move on to something else [Music] firearms is a very important skill set to have and if the day ever comes that you actually need to rely on your pistol to protect a human life it's going to be a situation where we hope that you're proficient and you're prepared for that day when it does come interact with a video in which role players create a scenario that tests judgment and how to de-escalate a threatening situation the judgment simulation room is also equipped with what's known as a shoot back cannon which fires projectiles at cadets we can basically give him a little shot with the shoot back Adam and they will remind them to go use cover so it only needs once or twice and then they quickly get behind covered every cadet is required to pass the pair test hare stands for physical ability requirement evaluation it's used to determine a cadets physical ability for duty the pair is the current job standard test that we use it's the measure of success for fitness and physical ability when cadets graduate from depo so if a cadet is unsuccessful at pair then they will not graduate from our program the cadets will run six laps of an obstacle course that includes running over a set of stairs twice in each lab as well as jumping over some lower hurdles and going over a 3-foot barrier laying on the ground and getting up so they go through that circuit six times and then they move into what we call the push-pull station that replicates that altercation and they need to push and maneuver a weight six times the way 270 pounds the standard for what we call it pass is four minutes and 45 seconds in policing the physical demands are unpredictable and it's difficult to do your job well or safely if you are unfit cadets are also timed in Scenario specific training like this exercise where the objective is to load up a truck bed with various life-saving supplies each item weighs about 50 pounds and the goal is to safely load the truck in less than 2 minutes training moves outside when cadets work with a dog handler this is Bailey she was my partner is a police dog I spent seven years on road with her as a police dog and we were partners she goes on what are called uniform runs supposed to simulate running with a dog handler pursuing a suspect or looking for a lost person we end up going over a lot of fences for chasing bad guys it's just the nature of how our work is to try and get a dog over a fence that our main concerns the safety of the dog we don't want the dog getting hurt chasing somebody and so there's certain ways to get the dogs over the fancy they utilize her harness so what we usually do is get one person at the top of the fence and on top of the fence and then I hand the dog up to them and their job is to make sure she does come back over the fence or jump down the other side to hurt herself we're lucky with Bailey Bailey's very friendly and very easy to work around the cadets uses a bit of a learning tool to show them how to be around the dog and what the dog looks like when it's actually working [Music] cadets have to pass a rigorous inspection of their barracks known in the RCMP as pits cadets lay out all components of their duty belt on their beds and stand by while an officer inspects all of their clothing and personal belongings cows sacrifice their life for your development what you've done to it how they do presented its advocates is an extension of themselves and it does translate to other areas across the cadet training program it is minus 25 right now and you're out here in a forge cap you're out here not prepared for duty this entire troop will be a learning assistants tomorrow morning at 7:30 wear your fur cap and carry your head here so you've been wearing for class what sets the RCMP apart is its uncompromising attention to detail which is on full display in the drill hall where cadets spend hours practicing marching maneuvers and customs it's an extremely valuable component of training here because it teaches cadets that sense of discipline self control and composure it's about conditioning the mind simple commands you respond you see the threat you respond even though it looks very ceremonial in nature it's all connected back to doing policing the bottom of the flap all the way down here lower it the bottom here that's where it should be why are those things important in our uniform public perception of us what happens if we have poor public perception lack of faith it's not about buttons and zippers and it's not about marching everything has a connection back to policing attention to detail in your uniform translates to looking for what's missing looking for what might be evidence when you get out into the field [Music] drill practice culminates in a ceremony known as the sergeant majors parade and every week there's a special guest in attendance a 28 year old man with special needs named Matthew he has come to the RCMP deppoh parade on Tuesdays for the past six years and it's his like ultimate thing this is what he looks most forward to is being able to come here and have this relationship that he's developed with the drill unit it's just tremendous like they've just sort of taken him under their wing and he has his own uniform you know they made him an honorary cadet [Applause] although the Mounties are known for their iconic scarlet tunic this is the uniform you'll actually see a modern Mountie wearing on duty but the red Serge remains a defining characteristic of the RCMP used as the formal attire for ceremonial events the uniform comes together here we're a team of more than 20 tailors alter the uniforms to the specific measures of each cadet we take them apart we put them together and do the alterations we like to see the smile on their faces when they come in and you know get fitted when they receive the tunics and they know that you know they're wearing a prestigious garments the week before graduation cadets attend what's known as the regimental dinner held in the officers mess it's a tradition that according to the RCMP media has not been allowed to attend before now it exposes them to the importance of our history we adhere to some very old traditions that we've inherited from the British Army and the Canadian Army that we've made our own one seat at the table is left unoccupied to honor the memory of the more than 240 RCMP officers who have died in the line of duty it's really a culmination of that family piece that we talked about right from the beginning that building them that esprit de corps sitting there together as the four celebrating the organization that they're just about to join [Music] before they graduate cadets take part in the oath ceremony this true took their oaths in French after taking the oaths the cadets remove the epaulets from their uniforms signifying that they're no longer cadets [Applause] they've become members of them out of place they grow to inches and they look so proud and their families and their friends when they see them are so proud of what they've achieved Canadians trust the RCMP and have for a very long time it's fragile and we have to make sure that we maintain them [Music] you you you

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Length: 20min 5sec (1205 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 21 2020