I recently had a conversation with a colleague of mine about what we should communicate to people considering a career in law enforcement.
My colleague, who helps with recruit training, said the following question should be asked of all police hopefuls:
“Why do you want to be a police officer?”
Most will give the appropriate answer of wanting to help people, of wanting to give back to their communities, and of wanting to make a difference. While all of these answers are just and true, and are all issues any new/prospective recruit should be thinking about, the real answer lies in how the question is answered.
There should be some element of wanting to catch the bad guy.
Yes, you read that correctly. For all the political correctness in this world, there remains the need to put bad guys in jail. To do so, a police officer has to think like a bad guy to catch one, and has to educate him/herself on how crooks commit crime, how bad guys flee crime scenes, as well as the patterns and nuances of actual crimes. I covered this in some detail last year with a post about mind set, but it is important enough to bring up again.
Another question that any new officer or prospect needs to ask themselves is whether or not they are ready/willing/able to use force when it is required. Much of policing utilizes an officers skill at verbal judo, but there are times when force is a necessity.
So, if you are a police hopeful, ask yourself the following:
- Are you ready to protect yourself and others by using the appropriate level of force to control the situation?
- Are you ready to use lethal force to protect yourself and/or others from grievous bodily harm and/or death?
This means looking at who you are as a person. Look deep down inside.
For all it’s job security, policing is a job that requires quite a bit of courage and a readiness to do battle if called upon. You need to be able to step up and take control of volitile situations, verbally or physically, and you have to have the maturity and where-with-all to explain why you took the action you did. You have to expect to be challenged, to be confronted, to be physically and verbally assaulted.
If these are questions you can answer in the affirmative, then law enforcement just might be the career for you.
I have been fielding many questions and emails about the recruiting process for the Vancouver Police Department and what the general requirements are to become a police officer. As a result, the FAQ’s section has more links to the VPD’s Recruiting website where most of those questions can be answered.
Some of the questions I have been asked do not relate directly to the application process itself, but are about my experiences in the actual job. Questions like “Do you like your job?” to “Do you regret ever becoming an officer?” to “What is it like to be a woman in what many still consider a male dominated profession?”
Hopefully, by reading this blog, most of those questions can be answered as well. But to take it further, reader ‘Jane Doe’ (I promised I wouldn’t reveal her identity) recently sent me an email. A portion of her letter and my response are copied below, and may fill in a few more of the blanks I am slowly trying to fill.
Dear Constable Sandra Glendinning,
I am looking into a career in policing. I’ve been to information sessions here in Ontario and have spoken to recruiters, but I still feel I am missing some information. I have all the black and white information, but perhaps the gray is missing. Perhaps you can give me some advice.
Do you ever regret entering policing?
What sort of questions should I be asking myself about policing?
Every officer I’ve spoken to here in Ontario say “they like what they do, that there are good days and bad.” They all say for me to go to an information session and then ‘we’ll talk’.
I know a supportive family helps, and I am ready to train and give 100%. Cst. Glendinning, can you give me some insight?
Thank you for your time,
‘Jane Doe’
Here was my response:
Hello Jane,
Thank you for sending your email, and I’ll do my best to answer your questions.
Policing is a career I never regret getting into. I first considered policing after listening to a police woman speak about her job during a ‘Career Night’ at my high school many years ago – Thank you, Linda Stewart. I knew from her stories and my personality that policing would be a good fit.
The officers you have spoken to in Ontario are right – there are good days and then there are bad, just like any other job. But I really do think the good days in policing are better than the good days at other most other places of employment.
Good days in policing are when a call ends well, when a victim is rescued, when a serial robber or rapist is finally caught. Good days in policing happen after officers put not just their energy and experience into solving a case, but also some of their emotion and their heart. Good days are when you really have made a difference in someones life. The elation can last for weeks, and a ‘good’ case usually becomes a favorite to retell years later.
On the flip side, bad days in policing are, for the most part, much worse than those in other jobs. Because of the emotion, blood, sweat and tears put into some cases there are dark days when such a case ends poorly or without the desired result. When a victim is found dead, when a bad guy slips through our net, when an officer is injured or killed. Those are dark days indeed.
Someone once told me that working in K9 would be an extension of that – as K9 officers we experience the highest of the highs and the lowest of the lows. I’ve been through both ends of the spectrum, and I can tell you the person who told me that was right. Some of my best moments in policing have been experienced during my time as a K9 officer. Some of my most difficult times have been as a K9 officer as well, but even then, I have never once regretted my career choice. Policing is in my blood, and I could not imagine doing anything else.
So when looking into a career in policing, you have to ask yourself if your personality is a good fit. Are you able to think on your feet? Are you willing to train and work hard and be a team player? Are you able to understand that there will be bad days and that you will have to come up with a coping strategy to get you through them? Are you able to understand that there will also be good days, and those days will be made so much sweeter by the hell you witness on a regular basis?
The rules and laws of Canada are in black and white, but the beauty of policing is all in the shades of gray. Your recruiters are right – go to an info session. Speak to as many officers as you can. Try and get on a ride along (if permitted in your area), or volunteer at the police station. Spend time evaluating your own personality, and if you truly believe you are a good fit for policing, then stick with it.
Best of luck, and thanks for reading,
Sandra
It’s the gray bits everyone wants to know about, but they are also the bits hardest to put into words.
It’s easy to explain why I gave someone a speeding ticket, or why I arrested a person for assault as those are infractions and crimes clearly laid out in our criminal justice system. It’s all the stuff in between the lines that make this job what it is, and often, you have to have been there to be really appreciate the subtleties.
By sharing some of my experiences, which in essence are experiences shared by almost all officers, I’m hoping to bring the ‘have to have been there’ aspect to a bigger audience to show that police officers are regular people who have simply been exposed to more of life’s underbelly.
After a news article was released a few weeks ago regarding the NYPD checking the online MySpace and Facebook accounts for applicants, I’ve been asked several times if the Vancouver Police Department is doing the same. The answer is ’sort of’.
In a clipping from The New York Post:
“The NYPD is requiring police recruits who have MySpace or Facebook pages to watch as an investigator sifts through their most private postings. The measure is designed to weed out would-be cops who litter their Web sites with violent or explicit imagery, racist rants and any other material deemed objectionable, a law-enforcement source said. Applicants Processing Division officers are demanding any recruit with an account log on to their pages, even if those pages are private and not accessible to the public, the source said.”
This initiative by the NYPD was the result of the department coming under criticism after inappropriate online comments and postings were made by a few officers and recruits. Since the online scrutiny has begun, several applicants have been denied for:
- posting explicit photos involving police uniforms
- comments or posts containing racial slurs
- comments admitting to gang membership
- photos depicting the applicant sporting gang tattoos and making gang signs
When it comes to the Vancouver Police Department, every applicant goes through an extensive background check. If there is a need to check an online profile, then it will be checked.
People have to remember that the ‘internet is forever’ – whenever you introduce anything onto the web, you have to use good judgement and caution. What you post today will still be posted years from now, and you have no expectation of privacy when a comment or photo is posted on a public site. You do not have to be an applicant to a police agency to suffer the consequences of having innappropriate personal information available for anyone to see.
Any social networking website has to be used with common sense. If you have any doubts as to whether or not you should post a photo or comment, then don’t. Facebook, MySpace and Twitter can be a fun tool (or so I’m told – I don’t understand the allure of Facebook, I have this blog so I don’t MySpace, and who in the heck has time to Twitter??) if used properly, but can cause disaster if used in an inappropriate manner.
A couple of years ago, when I was a brand new dog handler (I still feel new, so go easy), I responded to a break and enter at a local car dealership. Patrol units had responded to an alarm – upon their arrival, they advised dispatch that one of the doors of the dealership had been forced open, and the suspect was possibly still inside.
Let me tell you folks, such broadcasts are music to a dog handlers ears.
Because the car dealership covered more than a square block, I asked for clarification on which side of the premise the forced door was. The unit at scene, a recent implant from the UK, was prompt in his responding broadcast, but due to the officer’s accent I did not understand a single word he said. It was only from the upward lilt to the end of his sentence I realised the unit had asked me a question.
Hmmm….I did not know what he asked me, and for a brief moment I considered playing innocent. Usually, I understand an Irish/Scottish/English accent and all the accompanying lingo, but not this time. Did I admit defeat and admit my interpretation skills were not up to snuff, or did I blunder on and risk the bad guy getting away? After a considerable passage of radio silence, I finally fessed up and broadcast, “10-9?” (in police terms, 10-9 is a request to repeat the last broadcast). The officer responded with a slow and perfectly enunciated update – “The breached door is on the south side of the building – do you want me to hold it?.”
Needless to say, I found the officer and the breached door a few seconds later, and PSD Hondo searched the building with negative results. A later look at video surveillance showed the suspect had been in and out before the alarm had even sounded, and he was long gone before police arrived onscene…but I digress…
I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside several officers who have previous experience policing in the UK. One helped me search a car dealership, one dug my two-wheel drive Tahoe out of the snow last winter (for which I still owe him a coffee), one is now a Sgt i/c of the Public Order unit (of which Hondo and I are a part of) and another trained alongside me as we went through the four week ERT course. All have been very good at their jobs, and each have brought their UK experiences with them – to our benefit.
Curious as to how they decided to come to Canada, I asked the Recruiting Unit what an officer from overseas had to qualify in to become a member of the VPD. The answer was this – an officer from a country other than Canada HAS to have their permanent resident status confirmed and in place before the Vancouver Police Department will even entertain their application. And then, the officer-from-another-country must go through the same steps as any other applicant – exam, physical test, medical, assessment center, background check and interview.
Policing in the UK is different that Canadian policing. For one, the majority of UK officers are not issued guns – there are specialized firearm units who respond to calls where an armed response is appropriate. On the flip side, UK officers have far more experience than we do on how to handle riot/crowd situations. In a recent training day with the Public Order Unit, PSD Hondo and learned about crowd dynamics. Pretty amazing stuff – where the UK officers have experience being struck with Molotov cocktails, we do not (thank goodness). Is it because of their different society? I’m not sure – I’ll leave that subject for the social structure experts. But we, as the Vancouver Police Department, are a better workforce with the addition of our brothers and sisters from the UK.
Is becoming a police officer one of your goals for 2009? Have you made a number of New Year’s resolutions to help get you there? Are you still not sure what is required to make it as one of Vancouver’s Finest?
If you are interested in a career with the Vancouver Police Department you are required to attend an Information Session that will cover the selection process. Two new dates have been added:
- Thursday, January 8th, 2009 @ 7:00 pm – Century Plaza Hotel, 1015 Burrard St, Vancouver
- Sunday, January 18th, 2009 @ 10:00 am – Marriot Pinnacle Hotel, 1128 West Hastings St, Vancouver
For more information and for additional session dates, go to the VPD’s Recruiting web page.
The information session scheduled for Sunday, January 18th, 2009 has been cancelled. Please see the VPD Recruiting web page for more information.
Back in the early 1990’s, the VPD was comprised of two branches of service. The first and most highly sought after job was the position of a regular constable. This was, and is, the job of wearing a uniform, going through the police academy, and learning how to shoot a gun, drive a police car, and arrest criminals. It was also one of the most difficult jobs to get hired into, as there was a steep decline in the number of officers the VPD needed to hire at the time.
The other branch of service was the position of a Police Reserve/Auxiliary (which no longer exists today). You got to wear a uniform, and go through some form of training, but you were destined to always sit in the passenger seat of the police car, be armed with only your three-cell flashlight, and get paid a pittance (if at all) to be the regular officers ‘gopher’.
At the time I was the ripe old age of nineteen, and thinking I was not qualified enough yet for the job of a regular member, I applied to become a Police Reserve. I’m not sure what the recruiting officer saw in my application, but my folder was quickly transferred out of the Reserve stack and into the huge pile of applications for the Regular Force. I was thrilled! On Cloud Nine! And then, of course, came the inevitable crash back to earth. After running the physical, going through the Assessment Center, the medical and what felt like umpteen interviews, I was deferred.
“Hang on second!” I thought. “First you tell me I’m qualified enough for the job and shuffle me out of the stack of gopher applications I was quite comfortable being in, and then you tell me ‘Thanks, but not right now’?”
The two biggest reasons for my deferral were:
• I was mid-way through my post secondary education, and had expressed a desire to finish my schooling
• I had expressed a desire to travel
The recruiting officer told me to complete the things on this list, as he did not want me to have any regrets about getting hired on too soon. At the time, I was devastated, but I decided to do what he advised. Now, looking back, I see how valuable his advice was. Otherwise, I might not have completed my post-secondary education, and I most definitely would not have lived in Australia. I would not have met some of the people who ended up having a significant impact on my life.
And even though I try to live by the motto ‘No Regrets’, I think I would have, in time, regretting becoming a police officer too soon, at too young an age. When I was hired on in 1995, I had completed my schooling, I had seen the world down-under, and I had grown, both emotionally and mentally. I was a better person than I had been on my first go through the application process, and I had no regrets when I officially took up the badge.
So, if you are going through the application process and are told at some point that you are being deferred, do not lose hope. Be true to yourself, and everything will follow. If you are meant to wear a policing uniform, it will happen. Maybe not as fast as you would like, but it will happen.
Just remember – No Regrets.
As everyone gears up for the holiday rush, I beg you to please slow down while driving in parking lots! I braved a local mall earlier today and was just about mowed down by a woman racing for a prime parking spot. She was on a cell phone to boot, so I’m not sure she even saw me. But I digress – I promised myself this blog would not turn into a rant, so back to business…
Last Saturday, Dec. 6th, members of the Vancouver Police Citizen’s Academy were awarded their certificates after completing a six week course meant to build bridges between the VPD and the community. I had the opportunity to meet the group the day before when I gave a presentation on the Dog Squad, and I was very impressed with the participants. They were all interested citizens who wanted to better educate themselves on what it is the VPD does, and by the end of the course, they had been given an inside look into the department.
Then, yesterday, twenty-nine men and women became the newest officers with Academy Class #126 of the Vancouver Police Department when they were sworn in at a ceremony presided over by Chief Constable Jim Chu. Here’s a big welcome to all the new officers.
Yesterday I heard a quote from Vivian Stringer, the head coach of the Rugers University women’s basketball team (no, I did not meet her personally, even though I would very much like to – I saw her interviewed on television), and even though her statement was directed at her basketball team, it is a quote that all of us, particularly new police recruits, would do well to listen to:
‘Life is about being ready.’ – Vivian Stringer
Have a good weekend, everyone. Stay safe.
Sandra
All this talk about a Canadian recession is starting to worry a number of people, me included. While my thoughts turn to bank interest rates and my upcoming mortgage renewal, there are people out there who are really concerned about where their next pay cheque is going to come from. Not because these people don’t work hard, and not because they are not trained in their field, but because their jobs are starting to dry up. Manufacturing plants are shutting down, major retailers are declaring bankruptcy and once ‘solid jobs’ are handing out hundreds of pink slips.
This is where the Vancouver Police Department comes in. Policing is the type of employment that’s rooted in job security. There’s a steady pay cheque and excellent benefits. Plus, the VPD is gearing up for the 2010 Olympics and is undergoing an extensive hiring drive for 2009.
Extensive Hiring Drive = Opportunity for You.
Of course, you may already know the hiring standards for the VPD are tough. What you may not realize is the standards are attainable. If you meet or exceed the basic requirements, are looking for job satisfaction as well as job security, and are more than willing to work hard (and yes, have some fun) then maybe the VPD is for you.
Basic Hiring Requirements for the Vancouver Police Department:
• Minimum 19 years of age
• Excellent character
• Physically fit and in excellent health
• Canadian Citizen or Permanent Resident
• Grade 12 diploma or equivalent, plus one year of post secondary education (see the VPD Recruiting website for more details on what’s required for education qualifications)
• No criminal convictions, no adult criminal charges pending
• No history of improper conduct, poor employment, military, educational or driving record that would affect your suitability for policing duties
• A valid Class 5 driver’s license with a good driving record
• Be able to type a minimum of 25 words per minute
If this job sounds like it may be for you, then you must attend an upcoming information session. You can get the upcoming dates from the VPD Recruiting site, but I’ve listed the next four dates for you:
• December 13, 2008 – 9am, Justice Institute of BC
• December 17, 2008 – 7pm, Century Plaza, downtown Vancouver
• January 17, 2009 – Justice Institute of BC, time TBA (check website)
• February 14, 2009 – Justice Institute of BC, time TBA (check website)
