Winnipeg police mull out-of-province recruitment this fall, expanding pool 'to be competitive'
Santiago Arias Orozco | CBC News | Posted: May 11, 2025 4:34 PM | Last Updated: May 11
Edmonton police hosts 3rd Winnipeg recruitment event since April 2024, offering option to write entrance exam
The Winnipeg Police Service is exploring its options to launch recruitment campaigns outside of Manitoba by the fall, trailing in the steps of other Canadian police departments who already fly to Winnipeg to attract prospective candidates.
"In order to be competitive, we need to expand our horizons," Sgt. Tammy Lopushniuk, with the Winnipeg police recruitment team, told CBC News.
At the moment, social media is the only platform Winnipeg police have to put themselves on the radar and reach out to recruits outside of the city.
Most police recruitment campaigns are hosted within the city, but in recent years officers have also travelled to Indigenous communities in Manitoba to inform and draft prospects.
But Lopushniuk said Winnipeg police are now planning to attend career fairs and visit Canadian cities with post-secondary institutions that offer justice programs.
"Typically, we hire two classes a year, so if we could push and communicate a bit more … outside the province of Manitoba, I think that's how we would get some good applicants."
Winnipeg police have struggled to keep up with the city's steady population growth, with fewer officers for every 100,000 residents every year over the last decade.
According to the force's last statistical report, released last week, there were about 210 officers for every 100,000 residents in 2013 — that number had dwindled to 164 by last year.
At a news conference last week, Winnipeg police Deputy Chief Scot Halley didn't directly comment on whether the city is facing a police shortage after being asked, but he said the force always wants more police officers in uniform and cruisers on the front lines.
"When [people] call the police, that's the worst day of their lives and [when] we're not available to attend, we do take that personally," he said. "So we will undertake whatever we can to improve our ability to respond."
In September, then-acting police Chief Art Stannard said Winnipeg needed to hire 78 new officers to cope with population growth. Last week, Stannard said city council agreed and slated 36 more officers.
But "I don't think we're finished," he said.
Increasing applicant numbers, diversifying the force
Over the last decade, the Edmonton Police Service has been travelling outside Alberta to recruit police officers.
Cst. Ariana Martin, a member of the police department's selection and recruitment team, has held three onboarding campaigns in Winnipeg since April 2024, with the last one hosted at the start of May.
"We get a lot of registrations each and every time we come to Winnipeg," she said.
With a two-hour session that explains what policing in Edmonton looks like, Martin said the recruitment team is hoping to increase exposure and present prospective officers with an option they might not have considered before.
But extending recruitment outside of Edmonton and Alberta is also about diversifying who is in the front lines and ranks of the police department — and ultimately shaping a better police service, Martin said.
"We're looking for a broad spectrum," she said.
"There's so many people out there with just different backgrounds and educational experiences, work experiences … we want to bring [it] to Edmonton."
Mehakpreet Kaur, 25, works in Manitoba's correctional service, but she has been searching for an opportunity to become a police officer.
After failing her physical abilities test with the Winnipeg police, she learned through social media that the Edmonton police were recruiting officers in early May.
"They're coming here … they make efforts, so we should make efforts too," she said.
Edmonton police weren't immediately on her radar as an employer, and with their visit came the opportunity to write the entrance abilities exam from Winnipeg's Northwest Law Enforcement Academy in early May.
After passing it, she is now planning to apply for the Edmonton police service.
"This is good on their side," Kaur said. "WPS should also start going to other provinces … make some efforts."
Mobile options for entrance exam
Unlike other local Canadian police departments, which might also hold recruitment events out of province, the Edmonton Police Service gives candidates the chance to write Alberta's entrance policing exam in the cities they visit, including Winnipeg.
"We get a ton of interest and a lot of people write our exams," Martin said.
Edmonton Police hasn't always offered out-of-province exams, and now Cst. Kate Johnson would have benefited from that option 10 years ago when she first applied with the department while living in Ontario.
"It probably would have taken a lot of stress off of it," she said. "It lowers the risk for somebody in the beginning."
When out-of-province candidates take the entrance exam in Edmonton, they have to pay for travel expenses, and if they fail the test, they can't proceed with the rest of the application, Johnson said.
"We want to make it as convenient as possible [for applicants]," Cst. Martin said. "We want to help … if you want to be a police officer, we'll make it happen."
The Winnipeg Police Service is considering offering its written entrance exam outside the province during recruitment campaigns.
At the moment, candidates who want to enlist in the city's force must fulfil each stage of the selection process, including the entrance exam, in Winnipeg.
Cst. Lopushniuk said the recruitment team tries to group activities to reduce the number of trips out-of-town applicants have to take.
The applicant is still responsible for travel and accommodation costs for each trip, and the selection process might require them to come more than once.
Changing that dynamic and offering at least some of the first stages in the cities where out-of-province candidates live can benefit them and police, she said.
But "that's just kind of in the initial talks of having the logistics of that rollout," Lopushniuk said.