A free cop camp for youth in Chatham-Kent is back but it's full for this year.
The camp runs between 9am and 4:30pm from July 24 to 28 and is hosted by Chatham-Kent police and the OPP.
OPP Constable Jay Denorer says twenty 12 and 13 year olds are participating this year, which is the largest camp to date.
Denorer says the camp will motivate young people to be outstanding citizens through law enforcement education.
"Basically giving them a chance to see what the police do in their community and hopefully guiding them down a path to go into either policing or helping out the community any way they can as they get older," says Denorer.
The youth will be sworn-in as honourary constables on Monday during a ceremony at the Chatham Courthouse and will graduate at Tecumseh Park on Friday at 10:30am.
Applications for next year's camp will be available eventually.
Denorer says the camp is like a police academy for young people before they get to high school.
"Throughout the week they're going to get exposure to different activities such as the traffic unit. We're going to have canine out, the critical response team is going to do a demonstration, we're going to setup a car crash scene and the kids are going to have to investigate it as they would if they were police officers," Denorer says.
Denorer says participants in cop camp get an up-close look at life as a police officer.
"We're incorporating some team building. So, they get to meet with their team, learn to be respectful, don't bully. The stuff that police deal with every day, we want to instill into these youth so they can bring it back to their communities," says Denorer.