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[4]By Dariya Baiguzhiyeva [5]
BELLEVILLE – Loyalist College and the Belleville Police are planning to expand their partnership.
At a press conference held at the police station [6] Thursday morning, Chief Ron Gignac said the police want to enhance their relationship with the College by increasing the number of placements for students, giving them a chance to work in various aspects of policing, from communications to marketing.
“That’s how we become more efficient and effective” – the relationship “is multifaceted,” Gignac said.
Loyalist College’s partnership with the police is more than work placements for students, however. There are opportunities for students to get hands-on experience such as riding with police officers, doing law enforcement and getting involved in community response activities.
Loyalist president Ann Marie Vaughan noted that 43 per cent of the calls the Belleville Police receive are related to mental-health issues. “The complexity of care and support in the community necessitates and provides an opportunity for us to enhance our relationship,” she said.
Second-year Loyalist police foundations student Ben Coll, who is currently doing a placement with the police, said it was nice “seeing the difference they are making in the community.”
“It’s great seeing the front lines and being with the officers and seeing what an amazing job they do,” he said. “They’re not there just to prevent crime. They’re there to help.”
Another police foundations student, Brooke Babcock, said the public has an idea of what the police are doing, but working with them on a placement was “an eye-opener” for her and she’s “trying to take it all in.”
Paige Summers, a student in the postgraduate human resources management program, said she’s learning a lot during her placement at the police station.
“Things that you’re learning in class, you get to see them happening in real life, in a real office,” she said. “It makes it real.”