KUGLUKTUK - The Kugluktuk RCMP detachment has a temporary new member and she's from the community.

Pamela Bolt, a Grade 12 student at Kugluktuk high school, just completed three weeks of training at the RCMP depot in Regina. It is the background she needed to serve as a summer student.

Pamela Bolt will be working as a summer student with the RCMP in her home community of Kugluktuk starting this week. She was in Regina receiving training for the past three weeks. At left is Const. Scott Potrebenko, who will be Bolt's field coach over the next few months. - photo courtesy of Sgt. Chris Bewsher/Kugluktuk

Bolt was one of 32 students, ranging in age from 19-29, from across Canada in the Aboriginal Youth Training Program.

"I was really shy at first because I'm so used to being in a small community," she said a few days before her graduation last week.

However, she said she has since made some quick friends and plans to stay in touch with them.

Together they learned how diffuse hostile situations and, if need be, how to apply handcuffs.

They also ate together, slept in a dorm (two to a room), practised drills and engaged in daily fitness training.

While in Regina, she had the evenings to herself, giving her a chance to phone or e-mail family at home, go to the movies and go shopping. She found life in the city to be fast-paced, she said.

In her spare time she said she generally likes to go to dances, listen to music, watch films and use her computer.

A teacher, Dawn Tweedy, encouraged her to apply as a summer student with the RCMP, she said.

"It's something I always wanted to do, well, try anyway," Bolt said. "It's a really good opportunity to see if I want to have this for a career."

She was to start her 14 weeks on the job as of Monday. One of her roles will be to bring a cultural perspective to policing, according to Cpl. Dean Lerat at the training depot in Regina. She will be under direct supervision of one of the police officers at the Kugluktuk detachment.

Her family and friends have been very supportive of her policing endeavour, but Bolt is unsure of how the community will accept her in her new post.

"I usually try not to worry about what other people think," she said. "I'll probably be shy at first because I'm a real shy person...but I'm sure everybody will be happy for me."