Recruiters pushing the positives of law enforcement career, diversity
Credit to Author: Nick Eagland| Date: Sat, 22 Feb 2020 23:24:11 +0000
Recruiters at a law enforcement career fair Saturday in New Westminster said there has never been a better time to seek a career in policing, which has evolved to teach more skills than ever before.
The fair, held at the Justice Institute of B.C., brought out dozens of recruiters from the RCMP, Correctional Service of Canada, Canada Border Services Agency, police departments, and other agencies that enforce the law. Hundreds of potential recruits attended.
Const. Erika Dirsus of the RCMP’s E-Division said the federal agency is looking to hire “about 1,200” Mounties across Canada in 2020. Dirsus and other recruiters look for people who demonstrate the RCMP’s six core values of honesty, integrity, professionalism, compassion, accountability and respect, she said.
She said a lot has changed since when she applied more than 24 years ago. Police now spend time working on social media and using cutting-edge technology. More often, they’re travelling overseas as liaison officers or trainers, and investigating major crimes, money laundering and fraud.
The job can be tough and people shouldn’t go into it expecting “to get rich” with the base salary reaching about $86,000 after a few years, Dirsus said.
But the camaraderie, abundant vacation time, good support systems and reward of helping the public all help make for a wonderful career, she said.
“There’s just so many things you can do as a police officer,” she said. “It’s not just the uniform — I love being in the uniform — but it’s just so much more.”
The Vancouver Police Department is looking to hire about 70 regular officers and 70 special municipal constables.
Sgt. Al Gosbee from the recruiting unit said law enforcement agencies have been seeing a drop in the number of applicants, meaning the odds of getting a job have improved.
“I have been telling everybody who’s coming through here, now is the best time if you want a career in policing with all these organizations — they’re all competing for what we call competitive candidates,” Gosbee said.
“The opportunities are endless. What typically took a year, to go through a selection process, now can feasibly take three to six months.”
Job seekers said the career fair helped them learn more about the application process and work.
Fatima Aziz, 29, said she has applied to be a CBSA officer and came to the fair to learn more from the agency’s recruiters.
Aziz, who has a criminology degree and has been working for the federal government, said she is interested in immigration reform and policy, particularly the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement.
She wants to embark on a career as an officer to better understand how the policy impacts people’s lives.
“I realized that it’s better to get into the CBSA or some form of work where you’re hands-on, where you get to know Canadian law and where you’re executing in those rules and regulations,” she said.
Ryan Charney, 34, said he has been thinking about a career in policing since he was a child but it was the fascinating stories told on border services television shows that steered him toward the CBSA.
Charney, a chef, said he has researched the agency and hoped to learn more about being on the front lines from officers at the event.
“It’s just been a lifelong interest, to be honest,” he said. “I’ve been scared to take that step.”
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