[In celebration of National Police Week, children took the opportunity to ask BC RCMP police officers some questions.

Here are the top questions we received and answered about the tools on a police duty belt.]

>> Rhys: My name is Rhys and I’m six years old,

what does the taser do and does every police officer have a taser?

>> Corporal Hoffman: Hi guys my name is Corporal Kane Hoffman, I’ve been a member of the RCMP for nine years.

I currently work here at the Surrey Detachment in the training section, so teach the members, the police officers, on special classes.

So the taser is a tool that we carry as police officers to try and gain control of people,

so that either the police, or the person we are dealing with gets hurt.

Almost all of the uniformed police officers carry a taser

but only after me or one of my colleagues has taught them how to use it safely.

>> Nicole: My name is Nicole and I’m six. Why does the police need a flashlight?

>> Corporal Hoffman: So we need a flashlight because we work all day and all night.

So when you’re sleeping, we’re in the dark working and we need to be able to see.

Sometimes we go into dark buildings and houses and need to be able to see as well.

So we carry a flashlight with us, all the time.

[Emily] My name is Emily, and why do police, police officers have guns? I’m seven years old.

>> Constable Cacea: Hi I’m Constable Cacea, I’ve been a Langley RCMP officer for almost eight years now

and I am currently working in the schools unit.

Police officers have guns to protect themselves and the members of the public.

>> Sergent Jennifer Schiffner: Hi my name is Jen Schiffner,

I am a sergeant here at Surrey Detachment

and I’m in charge of the training section

and I have been a police officer for nineteen years

Declan, who is six wants to know why we carry a firearm and how often we use it.

Declan I have carried a firearm my whole career and out of those nineteen years

I’ve never had to use it to shoot at anybody

We just use it for training but we have it with us and to keep us safe and the public safe.

>> Constable James King:

Hi my name is Constable James King, I am with the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of British Columbia

and I’ve been a police officer for ten years.

Ahjay who’s five asked, how do we keep people safe and do we use our gun?

We keep people safe by driving around in the cities that you live in,

and police cars and police officers in uniform generally people away.

If we need to we respond to 911 calls and help people out as much as we can

And we don’t always use our gun, it’s a very rare circumstance that we ever have to use our gun

and most of the time we can just show up and talk about the problems and solve the issues that we showed up for.

Jake who’s five asked, can we shoot someone in the leg if we need to?

Jake we are not trained to shoot someone in the leg, we are trained to shoot someone in the body, right here

because it is easier to aim at and it usually stops the bad guy.

>> Constable Cacea: Grayson who is seven years old, wants to know what a baton does and what our vest does.

>> Sergeant Schiffner: Grayson it’s a defensive baton that is intended for us to use to protect ourselves if we are in a fight.

>> Corporal Hoffman: One time I used it when a bad guy was punching me in the face. I had to use it to get him away from me.

>>Sergeant Schiffner: But sometimes in the course of our duties we have other means for it. It’s kinda like a tool belt,

we have used it on occasion to break windows to help us to get into places where people need help.

>> Constable Cacea: My police vest protects me from some sharp objects and gun shots.

>>Sergeant Schiffner: Inside of our vest, is special material that helps spread out the impact if we get struck by something or a bullet

to spread that around so we don’t get as hurt.

>> Constable Hofsink: Alright here goes the belt [Constable Hofsink places the police belt with his tools onto a large scale]

[Constable Hofsink places police vest on top of belt on the scale]

[Constable Hofsink places taser on top of vest and belt]

[Thanks for your questions!

Please check our YouTube channel (rcmptv) for our other videos of kids #askBCRCMP during Police Week!]