Eight new police officers were honoured Friday afternoon during a ceremony held at the Patterson Armoury Friday to mark their graduation from the MHPS cadet training program.--NEWS PHOTO BRENDAN MILLER
bmiller@medicinehatnews.com
Eight new police officers, including five new members of the Medicine Hat Police Service, were honoured Friday afternoon during a recruit graduation ceremony capping completion of a 24-week intensive training program.
The ceremony, held at the Patterson Armoury, welcomed five new officers who will now serve in Medicine Hat, as well as three CPKC officers and one Blood Tribe Police Service officer.
“What I challenge you to do is work with each other, work with the members in your police service, work in your communities to solve problems,” MHPS chief Alan Murphy told recruits during the ceremony. “But understand you do it as a group, because those that want to cast a shadow on leadership, they can’t do it if we stand up and we’re brighter than them.”
The graduates – Const. Jacob Chaliforx, Const. Marlys Jackson, Const. Chase Koltai, Const. Ryan Lelonde, Const. Joshua Penner, Const. Brendan Reece, Const. Satinder Pal Singh and Const. Ryan Tent – officially received badges and ranks at the ceremony in front of a full house of family members, supporters and community members.
Chaliforx was born and raised in Medicine Hat before moving around with his family throughout school, and then returned to the city again and spoke about his journey through the training program.
“It’s a city I love, I’ve loved forever and it’s nice to be able to give back in my own way,” said Chaliforx. “It’s been incredible to see the team come together and really rally and everyone grow and develop in their own ways, whether it was fitness or the skills, the knowledge, just that confidence that we all got, it’s been incredible.”
Pal Singh joined the program with more than five years servicing as a firefighter and paramedic for the Blood Tribe near Cardston, and says it’s his lifelong dream to become a police officer.
“It’s been a long time coming, I dreamed of it and here I am today accomplishing my dreams,” said Pal Singh, who was born and raised in India and moved to southern Alberta in 2016 as an international student, then completed his advanced care paramedic diploma at Medicine Hat College.
“It means a lot to me being a public servant … working on the problems we have in the community and solving those and making a safer community for the coming generations to enjoy. I’ve been living in Medicine Hat for 10 years now and absolutely this is my home, so we’re here to protect our home and our community.”
Throughout the 24-week program cadets underwent a robust fitness regimen, 13 authentic evaluation assessments and training for a variety of emergencies and law-enforcement simulations.
Cadets were provided skills such as training in control tactics, emergency vehicle operations, firearms, de-escalation techniques and education on criminal law and mental health issues.
Last year MHPS began a partnership with Medicine Hat College to assist with the criminal law curriculum as well as provide student actors for training purposes to simulate real-life scenarios.
The program has also enhanced training on mental health issues and de-escalation techniques, including a week’s focus on personal mental health and dealing with community members with mental health challenges.
Cadets are provided ethics training and bias-free training incorporated into each scenario.
MHPS also added an advanced casualty medical-care program to train recruits for a situation where someone is seriously injured, and cadets also underwent a comprehensive physical fitness and wellness program.
