Airport security courses take off at Collège Gérald Godin

A new airport security course to be offered at Collège Gérald Godin with the help of Aéroports de Montréal (ADM) as of February has already attracted more student applications than expected, according to administrators.

"I think we received about 30 applications," said Pierre-Elliot Trudeau International Airport's operations director Pierre-Paul Pharand. "It's a little beyond what we were hoping for," he added.

Talks of the course began last May when Pharand said the airport realized it was having trouble recruiting new security agents. "They usually came from police forces, or were ex-police officers," Pharand said of the airport's pool of recruits. He said a lot of security forces are having trouble recruiting new employees. "Ten years ago, police didn't have trouble recruiting anybody. Now they do," he said.

The five-month course is comparable in some ways to police technology programs, explained Pharand.

According to Philippe Chevalier, program manager and co-ordinator at the CEGEP, students can be expected to learn specifically about controlling access in airports as well as applying the law.

"It is a program that would efficiently prepare someone for security work at the ADM's airports," Chevalier added. However, he said anybody taking the program is also free to seek work at another airport.

In December, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police released a 22-page report that pointed out several of Canada's major international airports, including Pierre-Elliot Trudeau International in Dorval, have a problem with criminal organizations.

Pharand said the program does take into account that airports can be hubs for crime. "The students will be sensitized to the airport environment," Pharand said.

He added students would also be screened as part of the application process.

Candidates for the program are also expected to be bilingual, have good interpersonal skills, and a high school diploma.

"They are the public face of the airport," Chevalier said, emphasizing the importance of interpersonal skills.

Through an arrangement with ADM, all practical training for the course will take place on Trudeau grounds.