Hamilton police chief says new education requirements won't impact officer quality

Hamilton police chief Frank Bergen says a provincial change to education requirements for officers would not impact the quality of the city's force. 

Earlier this week, the Ontario government said it would be introducing new measures to boost lagging police recruitment numbers, including eliminating the post-secondary education requirement to be hired as an officer.

In a police services board meeting on Thursday, Bergen said he has met with the Ontario Chiefs of Police about the proposed change.

He said he has assured solicitor general Michael Kerzner that Hamilton's police service will not "lower the standard" for its officers. 

'No shortage of applicants,' says police chief 

In a previous CBC Hamilton report, Hamilton Police Service (HPS) said 1,900 people applied to the service in 2020 but two years later, in 2022, just over 1,000 applied. 

Bergen told the police services board that HPS is actively hiring, but said he doesn't think low applicant numbers are an issue. 

"There's no shortage of people lining up," he said at the meeting Thursday. 

The issue, Bergen said, is finding candidates that meet HPS's high standards. 

Bergen said HPS is specifically looking for candidates who are diverse, have life experience and show character, courage and competency. 

In March, CBC Hamilton spoke with Scott Blandford, program co-ordinator of the policing and public safety programs at Wilfrid Laurier University who also spent 30 years policing in London, Ont.

Blandford said many police services in Ontario have experienced a "credential creep" over the last few decades.

He said official requirements to join the police still do not include post-secondary education but recruiting officers still look for "persons that have post secondary education, are older, and have some previous work or life experience."

"It's a hidden barrier that's there. [Police recruiters] won't come out and tell you that necessarily, but that's a requirement that they're looking for."

He told CBC London this week that the province is creating a "false narrative" because the post-secondary requirement that was added to the Community Safety and Policing Act 2019 — which the province is proposing to amend — wasn't being imposed anyway.

New Hamilton officers to have police college tuition reimbursed

The province also announced Tuesday it will cover 100 per cent of the costs for Basic Constable Training at the Ontario Police College. The three-month program costs $15,450 and new police officers are required to complete it within six months of being hired.

Bergen says the province will reimburse Hamilton police officers who paid for the program within the 2023 calendar year, including 16 HPS recruits from a cohort earlier this year. 

He said the reimbursement will not come from the municipal budget. 

NDP Leader Marit Stiles told CBC News on Tuesday she has heard police officers say they need more support and training for the staff they already have and said she is not sure municipalities will have the budget to offer additional training while also initiating a hiring blitz. 

"I think a lot of municipalities will be asking whether or not they have the capacity to even take this on," she said.

Pat Mandy, chair for the Hamilton Police Services Board, said Kerzner has asked for input on the new police act from municipal police services, including Hamilton police, in the coming weeks.