The Ontario government is reportedly introducing a number of new measures to boost police recruitment numbers, including elimination of tuition fees of police training, and scrapping a post-secondary education requirement to be hired as an officer.
“We need more police officers on our streets, more boots on the ground,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford, joined by Solicitor General Michael Kerzner and Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw, said today at a news conference at the Ontario Police College.
The Ford government will introduce legislation, the premier said later today, that would amend the Community Safety and Policing Act 2019 requirement of just a high school diploma or equivalent for recruiting new police officers.
Currently, post-secondary education credit is required by the applicants to municipal police services to be considered for employment as an officer.
“Ontario is grateful to the thousands of brave women and men who serve as police officers across the province, keeping our communities safe…push back the growing tide of crime in our communities expanding enrollment at the Ontario Police College and covering 100 percent of the tuition cost for Basic Constable Training,” said Ford in a news release.
Cost of the three-month program reportedly being $15,450, new police officers are required to complete it within six months of being hired.
Welcoming the changes, Demkiw was reported saying that the Toronto Police Service is having difficulty “keeping up with the increasing demands” of a growing city.
“Like police services across Canada, we are working hard to recruit…constables. But this takes time and there are often barriers to getting new officers deployed…We need support in recruiting and training and welcome the news from the province,” Demkiv told reporters.
With the expansion of enrolment at the college, starting in 2024, the number of graduates from the college will increase from the current three cohorts of 480 officers to four cohorts of 550 officers.
Solicitor General Michael Kerzner reportedly hoped the changes will encourage more people “from all walks of life and backgrounds” to join the force and added,
“We want more people to have the opportunity to be police officers,” he said. “That’s what today’s announcement is all about.”
According to the news release, the elimination of the tuition fee for the Basic Constable Training program at the Ontario Police College will be retroactive to January 1, 2023 and recruits who paid for their twelve-week Basic Constable Training earlier this year will be reimbursed.
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