Fort Resolution (July 12/04) - Donovan Boucher will not be mowing lawns for a summer job. The Fort Resolution teenager is among several Northwest Territories students hired by the RCMP for the summer.

"I just do whatever the cops do," said Boucher.

Cpl. Sylvain Lemoyne said Boucher, who started his two-month summer job on July 2, will learn everything about police work.

That includes accompanying officers on traffic enforcement, on calls for assistance and to the courthouse. Plus, his job will involve other tasks of a small detachment -- paperwork, yard work and building maintenance.

"He's going to pretty much follow us everywhere," Lemoyne said. "He's going to be seeing everything that we do."

Cpl. Wayne Norris of the Yellowknife RCMP is overseeing the hiring of summer students.

Only half of the 14 positions have been filled, including those at detachments in Inuvik, Fort Smith, Yellowknife and Fort Resolution.

"We're trying to encourage young people to look at the RCMP or the social sciences as a career choice," Norris said.

The young people -- who have to undergo security checks before being accepted -- will shadow officers in their work, he said.

While Boucher will learn about police work, he doesn't plan on becoming a police officer. "I want to become an airplane pilot," he says.

As of last week, the 16-year-old was awaiting the arrival of a special uniform. It will be somewhat similar to the regular RCMP uniform, but the wearer clearly identified as a student and not a police officer.