Sarah Pruys
The Fort Frances OPP’s high school summer students just started their jobs at the beginning of July but they’ve already been quite busy.
Sierra Cousineau and Jessica Coran, both 16, are enjoying their eight-week long contract so far.
The pair took a few minutes Monday to talk about their positions before getting ready to give a tour of the police station to children from the Fort Frances Day Care.
“We go out in the community and try to be a role model for the youth,” explained Cousineau.
“We’ll be biking around and giving ‘Positive Ticketing’ to kids who wear helmets and are riding safe.”
“Positive Ticketing,” also known as “Operation Safe Rider,” will see youngsters given tickets, which they can fill out and bring down to the Sorting Gap Marina to enter a draw for an iPod Nano courtesy of the Rainy River District Community Policing Committee.
“Last week we were helping with the camp at the college just to put ourselves out there,” Cousineau added.
The week-long “Adrenaline Rush” camp, held by Confederation College, gave children a peek into the exciting lives of paramedics and police officers.
Meanwhile, Coran noted the “Lock It or Lose It” program once again will be held here.
“We’ll be going around looking at parked cars to see if they’re locked,” she said. “And if they’re not, we’ll put a ‘lock it or lose it’ sign on them to help prevent cars from getting stolen.”
“Or if people are leaving valuables out to know that your car could possibly be broken into,” added Cousineau.
Coran said the duo also will be holding bike rodeos across the district, with one in Fort Frances being planned for August.
They have fishing rods and T-shirts to hand out as prizes.
“We volunteer,” added Coran. “On Wednesdays we bowl with Community Living; on Thursdays we help with the community garden.
“And we’ll be helping at the Métis Hall with the [monthly] food boxes.”
In addition, the pair has attended positive community events, such as the “Pulling for Peace” tug-of-war and the Fort Frances Public Library Technology Centre’s annual “Teddy Bears’ Picnic.”
They plan to attend more in the future, including the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship next week and the Emo Fair in mid-August.
They also will have information on the area for tourists, offering them points of interest to visit and directions if needed.
“I like it. It’s a good learning experience,” Coran said of the program.
“You meet a lot of people.”
“I like working with the different companies,” noted Cousineau. “We’re working with Victim Services and we’re going to get certified online [to be a volunteer].”
While neither teen is considering a career in law enforcement at the moment, they like their jobs and would recommend it to their classmates.
They applied so they would have something to keep them busy this summer, gain some new experiences, and make some money.
