The Ontario Provincial Police Canine Unit was recently invited onto campus to share with students their important work and to continue strengthening the learning opportunities available to students and staff through our local police while reinforcing our school's community values.
Lakefield College School has a longstanding relationship with the OPP. While LCS students and staff benefit from regular proactive and preventative educational talks they provide, the unique nature of our campus - a school, but also a village-like community with vast acreage and multiple buildings - provides the perfect training environment for our local police to work and understand.
Constable Richard Nie is a familiar face on campus. He regularly connects with students and staff during classrooms talks or for school, staff and parent presentations on topics important to our community and directly connected to the fulfillment of our school values including such things as drugs, bullying and harassment, risk management, safety and security and other issues.
Last week, Const. Nie brought Canine Handler Const. Jon King with him to a Chapel Talk. Const. King arrived with his team Ben (a German Shepherd) and Stella (a Chocolate Lab) to talk to students about the OPP’s Canine Unit and its work. One of four canine handlers in the central Ontario region, 17-year veteran Const. King has been handling 8-year-old Ben on call for 6 years.
Our students were interested to learn that canine handling is a 24-hours-a-day-7-days-a-week commitment. Ben, who is a general service dog, is trained in human scent (search and rescue, tracking and apprehending) and drugs and guns (7 major narcotics) and is part of the Emergency Response Team (ERT). The dog knows, depending on the collar or harness he wears, which job he’s expected to do.
LCS is looking forward to inviting the Canine Unit back to the school after the March Break for further training and search opportunities and exercises dedicated to better understanding complex environments like ours, that include interior and exterior spaces such as the academic block, residences and our broader natural campus spread over 155 acres. At the same time, we will reinforce with our students the values inherent in maintaining a healthy caring community,
If you are interested in learning more about the school’s relationship with our local OPP and the educational opportunities that exist therein, please contact
John Runza.