Rising time: 0500 hours. Inhale your meal in 15 minutes. Polish those boots, cadet!
Even if you haven't been through the RCMP's cadet training at Depot yourself, you may have heard the highlights: six gruelling months of firearms, police defensive tactics, applied police sciences, driving, marching in double-time and more marching.
For this issue on recruiting, we wanted to get up close and personal to see what challenges and rewards today's recruits face while at Depot in Regina, Sask. Sigrid Forberg joined two troops — one brand new and one poised to graduate — to find out what led them to where they are and to hear how they manage, and grow from, the physical, mental and time-management challenges thrown at them.
Many of these cadets have waited years to join. But the women's accelerated recruiting initiative in British Columbia is getting high-quality RCMP applicants in the door in less than six months (a few in less than four). Now that's efficient.
Deidre Seiden looks at the demographics of today's recruits and explores how the next generation of police officers is more diverse in age, race, gender and cultural background than ever before.
We also hear about two innovative ways to connect with future recruits: a comic strip created by the Edmonton Police Service based on real police heroes from the past, and a video game that tests the skills of future U.S. Air Force applicants. Both show that engagement is arguably the best recruiting tool.
Once we've created these outstanding recruits, we'd be remiss if we didn't look at how to keep them. Hiring the best also means working hard to retain them through meaningful recognition, diverse opportunities and sound leadership.
When asked why they signed up, the most common reason given by cadets wasn't "for the adventure" or "because my father did"— it was "helping people." We can't think of a better motive for becoming a police officer.