Regina police welcome new recruits ahead of intensive training

A room full of proud family, friends and new coworkers looked on as four new recruits were sworn in to the Regina Police Service (RPS) on Thursday.

Although the recruits were just welcomed, their process to eventually hit the streets will take another year as they head to the Saskatchewan Police College on July 29.

Other officers from around the province will join the four at the college in Regina for five months, before field training with a veteran officer with the RPS.

Chief Evan Bray with the RPS said the recruits will face an intensive training process over the next few months.

“They learn criminal code, they learn human behaviour, they understand and get mental health training (and) of course self defence,” said Bray. “It’s a full gamut of training and really exposes them to things that they will be challenged with and working with on the job.”

Bray added that the hiring process for new recruits has changed over time. Rather than hiring 18-year-old recruits out of high school, many of the recruits now have families.

“All of the municipal police services train their officers here,” said Bray who focused  on the mental health aspect of recruiting new members. “But Regina has their officers still living at home … It’s a good exposure to see what policing life is going to look like.”

New recruit Isiah Dawson said he welcomes the challenge ahead of him.

“Obviously today was a very big buildup; I’ve been in quite a few processes for the past couple of years and this is a big lifestyle change,” said Dawson who previously worked in EMS for seven years, but was drawn to a law enforcement career. “There’s a lot of things to look forward to.”

Bray said recruits were selected following an extensive process on applicants which features a series of interviews, physical, psychological and polygraph tests as well a background check.

“A couple of these officers have been trying for a while, so I’m proud of them in how much they were determined to get here and they didn’t give up,” said Bray.

Bray did have once piece of advice though for the parting recruits: “Enjoy it. Although you’re going for a run and it’s frosty outside and there’s snow on the ground, or you’re cramming for a test in criminal law, it might not seem like fun,” said Bray. “But it’s all part of the journey.”