Now in its third year, a Summerside Police Services scholarship that offers to pay $10,000 of a cadet’s tuition is being hailed as a success by the police chief.

Jason Blacquiere said the program has put six cadets through the Summerside-based Atlantic Police Academy so far. Two more are currently training in the school’s winter session, and the agency is looking to find two more for the summer.

“The product that we’ve been getting back has been exceptional,” Blacquiere said. “It’s been a very successful program for us so far.”

The program began as a city initiative that eventually evolved into a partnership between Summerside and P.E.I.’s Department of Justice and Public Safety. It pays a portion of the cadet’s tuition — which totals about $33,000 — if they promise to work in Summerside for five years after graduating.

Anyone interested in the program can pick up an application package at Summerside City Hall. Packages can be picked up until Feb. 20 and must be returned by March 6.

Successful candidates would start at the academy in August.

Prior to the tuition program, Blacquiere said graduating officers who were not from the Summerside area would take jobs with police forces closer to home.

“With this program, we have people that are committed to the area, they’re committed to our community and committed to pursuing their career here with our police service,” he said, adding the quality of officers who graduate from the Atlantic Police Academy are “second to none.”

Blacquiere said a good candidate is physically fit and a P.E.I. resident. A criminal background check and valid driver’s licence are required, and recruits will need to pass physical and polygraph testing.

He said the program has attracted applicants from more diverse backgrounds, including Indigenous people and a candidate from India who moved to P.E.I.