When Rick Young was eight or nine years old, he remembers riding in the back seat of the family car, with his brother.
Suddenly, lights flashed and sirens sounded far behind their vehicle, and all of the traffic – including Young’s dad - pulled over to the side of the road.
“My brother and I, in amazement, watched this police car going past,” he remembers. “My dad said, ‘The police are on their way to help someone.’ That’s when I decided to be part of that group of men and women who help others.
“I wanted to be someone who helps people.”
It wasn’t in the cards for Young to pursue a career in policing; there were family commitments and a family business that took priority. It was only when he moved up to Bradford from Richmond Hill that he saw an advertisement, looking for volunteers for the South Simcoe Police Auxiliary Unit, and could finally fulfil that childhood dream.
The Police Auxiliary is an entirely volunteer group of men and women, who commit to training, and providing at least 12 volunteer hours of service per month, to provide assistance and support to policing in the community.
They receive the training and a uniform, but are not paid for the hours they spend, providing support to uniformed police officers and serving the community as mandated by the Police Act.
The South Simcoe Police Service formed in 1997, when Bradford West Gwillimbury and Innisfil Police Services amalgamated.
“I applied in 1998, and I was hired in 1999,” Young says. “Certainly, when I joined, I had no idea it would be 22 years of commitment.”
It’s the people who have kept Young, now an Auxiliary Staff Sgt., engaged. “I have made some great friends,” he says. “I have also had the personal satisfaction of helping people in my community,” from school children to Senior residents.
Like any volunteer position or any job, “you go through up and downs – but the thing that’s constant is, you are here to help people,” Young says.
And when he dons his uniform, “I’m as proud today, going to work, as I was when I started.”
As Staff Sgt., most of his work is now administrative, and he spends fewer hours on the road. Young, in charge of 23 Auxiliaries, personally volunteers between 15 and 35 hours each month.
In 2019, the South Simcoe Auxiliary Police volunteers provided more than 4,500 volunteer hours to the police service and to their community.
There are two main reasons why people join the Police Auxiliary, Young notes.
One is that it is a stepping stone for people who want to become full-time police officers. “You cannot get a better pre-requisite,” Young says. “It gives the person an opportunity to see what the policing world is all about.”
It also gives the Police Service the opportunity to see if a candidate “has what it takes to be an officer,” he says.
The other reason: to help the community and “still be part of that brother and sisterhood” that is the police service.
For Young, involved in the family business, the opportunity to be an Auxiliary officer is “absolutely perfect.”
During the COVID-19 crisis, the role of Auxiliary Officers has changed. At the moment, they are no longer accompanying officers on ride-alongs, but are taking a “hold and ready position” – held in reserve, but available if there is a sudden need for their support, Young says, “ready to be deployed.”
They have also been helping out their brothers and sisters in policing by donning masks and gloves, and wiping down the police cruisers after they have been professionally cleaned and sanitized – once again providing key support, for those who serve and protect.
