Cards improve police-community relations
Jorge Barrera
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Jan 29/01) - Whey won't knock off Pokemon but RCMP trading cards are a hit with kids from Rae-Edzo to Cambridge Bay.
"They're as cool as Pokemon," said Donnavan Ernochi,10, a grade 5 student at Elizabeth MacKenzie elementary school in Rae-Edzo.
Ernochi owns only one but he's trying to get more of the glossy cards that each display one of the smiling mugs of members of the RCMP's Rae-Edzo detachment.
On the flip side are the officer's personal details and messages for the kids: "Stay in school, don't be a dope."
The trading card concept is an import from the United States and first picked up by the Calgary municipal police force.
The cards hit the North for the first time in Cambridge Bay in 1998 when Cnst.. Ann Hills introduced them on a suggestion from her commanding officer.
Hills, now stationed in Hall Beach, said the cards made kids more comfortable around police officers.
"The kids got to know your name and communicated with you better once they knew your statistics," said Hills.
Police see the cards as a valuable tool to "bridge the gap between the community and the RCMP," said Cnst.. Eric Legault.
Legault knew it was a good idea from the beginning and now kids in Rae-Edzo are scrambling to collect all eight.
"Kids ask us for the cards wherever we go and now they talk to us about everything from the hockey game to school," said Sgt. Mark Wharton, the detachment's commanding officer.
At times the cards can be too much of a good thing.
"We were on a stake- out and a couple of kids saw us an rushed over to the truck asking for cards," said Wharton.
"It blew our cover."
Legault lobbied between 25 to 30 local businesses for donations to print the cards. The total cost fell around $1,600 for 8,000 cards.
"I think they're a hell of a good idea," said Arney Steinward, owner of Arney's Construction and sponsor of the Cnst. Jim Forsey card.
"It gives the cops a human face," he said.
Hills introduced the trading card program in Hall Beach last year.
Arielle Martin, 10, owns four cards.
"My teacher will give us a prize if we get all of them," said the grade five student at Elizabeth MacKenzie school.
"I kind of think they're cool, like baseball cards."
