News

Security Officer – Imaginative Beginnings to Applied Certificate

Apr 14, 2016

Posted in: Uncategorized

By Daniel A. Downs

Dumont Technical Institute (DTI) has had a long history of offering unique, collaborative, community-based programs. Most of these programs were designed and delivered with input from employer partners, especially when it came to our partnership programs with many of the 13 health regions in Saskatchewan.

In general, the Health Regions have commended the unique approach that DTI has taken to program delivery, with DTI often adding health-specific training onto programs, or designing programs from scratch that suit the hiring needs of the Regions. One of the most collaborative and inventive of these programs was the Security Officer programming first offered by DTI Program Coordinators Tracy LaPrise and Chantelle Jule to support the Saskatoon Health Region’s hiring of Security Officers. At the time, the training criteria for Security Officers consisted of a one-week (40 hour) prep course, and an exam that allowed them to act as Security Officers in the province of Saskatchewan. This did not fit the needs of the health regions, of which most of their officers required advanced verbal de-escalation techniques (Verbal Judo), physical fitness preparation (including the PARE physical fitness test), and Professional Assault Response Training (PART) to be considered for employment. DTI offered them programming that fit their hiring needs; offering a unique experience for both student and employer.

What many people do not realize is that inventive, collaborative programming like this gets noticed. It gets noticed by large entities such as Saskatchewan Polytechnic that see the unique work being done by DTI; looking to incorporate what DTI does in to their own program offerings, or collaborate in the creation of programs.

Such was the case of the newly developed Saskatchewan Polytechnic Security Officer Applied Certificate program. Several years ago, Saskatchewan Polytechnic approached DTI for a series of meetings that would allow Saskatchewan Polytechnic to design a Security Officer program that would legitimize and professionalize the profession of Security Officer in Saskatchewan.

Saskatchewan Polytechnic recognized that a one-week exam prep was not what industry was looking for, and drew upon the security programming expertise of Chantelle and Tracy to design and develop the Security Officer Applied Certificate program. Industry was involved from across the province, including the Health Regions, in assisting DTI and Saskatchewan Polytechnic in the development of the Applied Certificate program.

In Ile-a-la-Crosse this year, DTI had the opportunity to deliver the Security Officer Applied Certificate program that we helped to develop. Having just completed March 11, 2016, the program again saw some unique collaborations and industry directed program additions, similar to what made DTI’s original Security Officer programming inventive and unique. Students were provided some unique work experience opportunities, Restricted Radio Training (allowing students to communicate directly with pilots and aircraft), as well as camp-specific security training unique to northern mines.

DTI partnered with Cameco Corporation to allow for a two-week work experience to be completed at the Key Lake and Rabbit Lake mines. Directly supervised by security contractors Athabasca Basin Security and NorGuard Security Services, students were given an amazing immersive camp experience including flights, accommodations, and meals. The Northern Village of Ile-a-la-Crosse also provided a unique opportunity for a student, having them provide bylaw services to the community, alongside the regular bylaw officer. Impact Security out of Prince Albert took on a student as well, having them provide corporate and event security at several venues around Prince Albert.

In the end, students would not have been provided this unique opportunity if not for the trailblazing work done by DTI Program Coordinators in the design and delivery of previous Security Officer training. DTI created programming around security that helped professionalize and legitimize the training of security officers, before it became a professional and legitimized Applied Certificate.

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