Not being afraid to fail is one of the lessons Logan Ferrington is taking away from Northern College’s Careers in Policing session.
“If you do end up failing, just take it as a learning step and keep moving,” said Ferrington, who is in his second year of the Police Foundations program.
The Careers in Policing event offered people interested in a law enforcement career the chance to hear from representatives from the Timmins Police Service, Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service (NAPS), Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services.
Along with the formal information session, Timmins Police set up its mobile command centre outside, allowing people to take a tour and talk to officers.
John Adams, a second-year Police Foundations student who is looking at getting into the corrections field, said the sessions are beneficial.
“You get a lot of good information from those different organizations about how to apply, what they’re looking for in new recruits, just kind of what the working environment is like,” he said.
For someone considering a career with NAPS, Sgt. Jackie George said candidates have to be willing to work in a fly-in community in Northern Ontario.
Working in a remote location comes with unique challenges.
“The challenges would be that should an officer require backup, that backup would mostly likely be at the very minimum two hours away. That applicant would have a lot of self-confidence, of course be well trained, rely on that training to do their everyday duties, be very good with community service work,” she said.
Originally from London, Ont., George thought she would go up north for a couple of years then move back down south. She’s been with the service for 19 years.
“You’re really wearing a lot of hats when you’re in a community, and it has been like that for me,” George said.
She likes the varied routine that the job offers.
Her experience doing interviews for cadet positions in Moose Factory this week is a good example of how officers need to be ready for anything.
“While we were there, there was one officer working alone, and they received a domestic violence call and it was in progress, so it was ‘you’re not interviewing, now you’re going to accompany the officer on the domestic call’,” she said.
At the OPP, Northeast Region recruiter Rénee Taylor said they foresee hundreds of people retiring in the next few years.
“At this time we are absolutely looking for applicants and coming to an information session gives that opportunity to make sure they’re submitting applications at a competitive level,” she said.
Ways she said people can make themselves competitive are their work history, community involvement, education, fitness and a healthy lifestyle.
While people of all ages and stages of their life can apply for the OPP, Taylor decided to pursue policing when she was still in high school.
She started out as an auxiliary constable.
“As soon as I started training with police officers, attending calls for service and really experiencing the field of policing as an auxiliary, at that point I absolutely knew I was going to be applying,” Taylor said.
By having partnerships with local post-secondary facilities, Marc Depatie said the Timmins Police can make applicants aware of the “rigors of the employment environment”.
“Anything that can demystify the hiring process for these prospective applicants is a step in the right direction,” said Depatie.
He said it’s also an opportunity for people to hear about the job opportunities that exist with the service “and how it’s a modern, progressive police force that has a tremendous value to the local community as well as opportunities for personal enrichment as a career path should they choose to follow it.”
While these conversations about policing were taking place, nearby workers were busy constructing the college’s new integrated emergency services complex.
Next year the facility will be the new home of Northern College’s police, fire and paramedic programs.
“It will provide facilities that are not comparable to anything else in Ontario,” said Fred Gibbons, Northern College president and CEO.
He explained that it will house a fully-functioning courtroom, jails, fingerprint facilties, interview room, scenario labs and a $1-million simulator for incident command training.
“What we’re trying to do is distinguish our EMS, police and fire programs beyond what anything else is offered in the province of Ontario. What we’re attempting to do is bring more students here and to become known as a centre of excellence for emergency services training,” said Gibbons.
