Waterloo Regional Police Service welcomed students from Monsignor Doyle Catholic Secondary School for a canine course demonstration recently, closing the loop on a months long partnership that saw the service and students work together build the obstacles.
The course will help current and future police dogs train for situations they'll see while on duty.
Sergeant Derek Innanen, a supervisor with the WRPS Emergency Response Team, was thrilled with how well the officers and students worked together and bonded throughout the process.
“I can only say that the experience was a total success,” Innanen says.
“The timely completion of the canine obstacle course by Mr. Cinti's woodworking class was of huge assistance to our team.”
Innanen says the service is currently in the process of training two new dogs and handlers.
Collaborating with the local school gave police a chance to do more than just upgrade their equipment.
“To be an officer, we must be able to connect with and relate to a wide variety of people,” says Const. Adam Vandenberge, a canine officer at WRPS.
“I know that this experience was rewarding and educational for myself and the other officers that took part. This was a reminder of who we were as young students and who we are now and I think we all need that at times to effectively do our job.”
Innanen hopes the students took away a similarly positive experience from the project.
“I hope the students had a chance to better understand policing and see officers as people and friends that are approachable,” he says.
“This partnership was a great opportunity for the police to collaborate with youth and to hopefully show who our officers are behind the uniform. As an officer, I can say that it's beneficial for us to meet and work with community members whenever we can. I further hope they understand how helpful they were to our service and learned something along the way.”
Forming relationships like the one with the school is critical to the service's commitment to building stronger communities, Innanen says. It’s something he hopes people understand when they interact with officers.
“There is real value in these types of partnerships and Waterloo Regional Police officers want and need to be involved with the community, for the betterment of both the community and ourselves,” he says.
“By getting to know each other as individuals, outside of a traditional policing context, we can break down barriers and truly relate to one another. We welcome the opportunity to make friends and create partnerships to increase the trust between police and the greater community.”
