Dawn Ostrem
Northern News Services

Yellowknife ( Jun 02/00) - They may not have sirens on their vehicles and they may not carry firearms but the RCMP bike patrol is ready to guard the community this summer.

Although traditional summer jobs may mean flipping burgers or mowing lawns, several summer students are taking advantage of the opportunity to work alongside RCMP members.

Similar to auxiliary officers, four students are now on the job thanks to the federal- and territorial-funded bike patrol program.

"They patrol the bike trails where police vehicles don't fit and if they see something -- since they are students, we don't actually want them to get into a situation that would be dangerous for them -- they carry radios, so they are able to call in," explained Const. Adrien Barrieau, who heads the program.

Along with the four students hired to patrol the streets, there are several students who are working in a variety of other areas with RCMP in the summer student program which runs from mid-May to mid-August.

Jody Brandford, 21, is home for the summer from Calgary where she attends Mount Royal College. She is currently enrolled in general studies and hopes her job on the bike patrol might give her some insight into what kind of career she'll choose.

"I've always been kind of interested in policing, just not quite certain," she said. "It's a cool summer job."

Barrieau said the students deal mainly with stolen or lost bikes, which is a big problem in Yellowknife, but are also very useful in searching for missing children.

The students also perform non-policing duties such as conducting surveys on how satisfied the public is with police services here.

They also go to schools to register students' bicycles and do presentations.

"They are not just doing bike patrol but they're also doing a lot of other duties here at the detachment," Barrieau said.

In order to work as a summer student, applicants must pass a security screening and receive some basic training, provided by the RCMP.