Jeff Colbourne
Northern News Services

NNSL (Aug 19/98) - Between 100 and 150 security positions are expected to open up in Yellowknife within the next couple of years.

That's according to Secure Check, a local company that's gearing up to train security officers beginning this January.

"BHP I believe is in the process of hiring or have hired somewhere around 50 to 70 (security guards). Then, with Diavik coming on line, the need for corrections and those sorts of workers is growing," said Peggy Near of Secure Check.

The entry-level training course, once completed, will enable students to gain immediate employment in several sectors. Students can become community constables, corrections officers or diamond mine site security workers.

An advisory board has been set up to develop the course and offer a couple of weeks of practical work experience for students near the end of the 16-week course.

Security officers will learn about the criminal justice system, the roles they will be expected to play as peace officers, private security at the diamond mines and sorting facilities or corrections officers.

Ethics and professionalism in the security business will also be discussed. Students will learn how to write a proper report and take notes.

They will be taught the powers of arrest, search and seizure, security controls and systems, radio communications, how to investigate incidents, learn self-defence tactics and proper use of restraints.

St. John Ambulance will also be invited to give first aid training to the class.

Students who wish to enrol must be at least 18 years old, have a minimum Grade 10 education or equivalency and no criminal record, or be eligible for a pardon from the National Parole Board.

Secure Check said the course should produce high-end officers, raising the standards of security in the North.

"We don't call our people guards. We call them security officers. The people that we have now, most of them have policing backgrounds or degrees in criminology. We're taking it (security) to a whole different level."

At the Diamond Career Show last week -- which was held at the legislative assembly's Great Hall -- Secure Check handed out more than 150 information sheets about the training course and answered questions from interested students.

Several people have already asked to sign up. Twenty people will be accepted when the course, which will be ongoing, begins.