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Relevance and Usefullness of Police Foundations?

Now im being told over-eager is a bad thing... ? I can understand what you're saying about not wanting to look like a gun nut... but my understanding is bring all the skills you can to the table. Which I intend to do
 
MOD HIJACK....Gryphs Sports Bar this Friday, 2200 hours, 1 beer[ cause then I play at 2230]...always lots after ....
Look for a big old guy wearing a black army.ca golf shirt.......
 
While on this particular topic too.... does anyone have any working information of armoured car services? As far as job training.. pay.. getting your foot in the door for a law enforcement job?

The company I work for right now, Group 4 Falck, which is now Group 4 Securicor, I am looking into transferring to the Securicor side for armoured car work.... I know the pay is better than what I am making now (its not hard to beat my pay).

Anyone work FOR them? Worked for them?

Lets see what info you guys have
 
Sappo said:
While on this particular topic too.... does anyone have any working information of armoured car services? As far as job training.. pay.. getting your foot in the door for a law enforcement job?

The company I work for right now, Group 4 Falck, which is now Group 4 Securicor, I am looking into transferring to the Securicor side for armoured car work.... I know the pay is better than what I am making now (its not hard to beat my pay).

Anyone work FOR them? Worked for them?

Lets see what info you guys have

All I know is that getting shot for someone else's money is a bad idea.  I used to work along side of the Brinks guys when I worked at the casino, and they all pretty much hated their job, although I think it had more to do with the local managment.
 
Bruce Monkhouse said:
MOD HIJACK....Gryphs Sports Bar this Friday, 2200 hours, 1 beer[ cause then I play at 2230]...always lots after ....
Look for a big old guy wearing a black army.ca golf shirt.......
What city is that in?
 
Back to the Guelph memories!  If only I could remember her name...or knew it in the first place. ;D
 
Sappo said:
While on this particular topic too.... does anyone have any working information of armoured car services? As far as job training.. pay.. getting your foot in the door for a law enforcement job?

The company I work for right now, Group 4 Falck, which is now Group 4 Securicor, I am looking into transferring to the Securicor side for armoured car work.... I know the pay is better than what I am making now (its not hard to beat my pay).

Anyone work FOR them? Worked for them?

Lets see what info you guys have

Don't bother. I worked for Brinks, armoured car work has NOTHING to do with the law enforcement field.  It is a COURIER service that just happens to specialize in high value goods.  Because of that you carry a firearm to protect YOURSELF in case of robbery.  Do people who work at Brinks/Securicor get hired by the police. Yes, but so do teachers, secretaries, catererers, computer specialists.  Stay where you are at.
 
Darn. Not relavent?

I wanted to take a police foundations course at humber after high school. I have talked to several young cops around here, and they both had police foundations under their belts...They also mentioned that a few officers have university degrees and military experience.

What about the paramedic course  :P
 
ShawnSmith,

This is why the thread is here... As I said young people who just finished highschool etc and are looking into law enforcement would be best suited to take this course.

Dont take what we say for 100% truth, my experiences will be different than yours.. also depending on the school you choose.

And on the flip side, you say several cops have police foundations, I know several who dont have police foundations :)

It is what you decide to do, not everyone else.
 
ShawnSmith said:
Darn. Not relevant?

I wanted to take a police foundations course at humber after high school. I have talked to several young cops around here, and they both had police foundations under their belts...They also mentioned that a few officers have university degrees and military experience.

What about the paramedic course  :P
No education is ever going to count against you.  What kind of learner were you in high school?  Were you good with books, or were you more hands on?  University is more pure theoretical knowledge at first and college is more directly applied. 
If paramedic interests you, go for it.  You will still get to deal with the crappiest elements of society (nobody calls for ambulances like the ghetto) and drive fast.  You just have to decide if you want to be the blood maker, or the blood patcher. ;D
 
If you are already in PFP, finish it. You will get a since of accomplishment out of that diploma and it can't hurt regardless of what you do after. As far as the revelance and usefulness of PFP, it isn't.

I took it and had some fun, met some good friends, learned a few things but that is all it is good for. It doesn't teach you how to do security work or police work. If you are a security guard and can find another job, do it immediately! With rare exception security work is low pay, low respect, thankless, dangerous, you work for idiots and police recruiters don't really care.

I hate to say it but if you are white, male, and unilingual Anglophone look elsewhere for employment, the police don't want you and you are a dime a dozen. If you can get over that handicap and still really want to be a cop. I recommend RCMP and Peel because they do their own testing. ATS is an expensive scam and the OACP should be ashamed of themselves for supporting them.

The only thing that will get you into a police service is unfortunately bootlicking and persistence. I used to want to be a cop and I know a great deal about the hiring process. It is very negative and designed to intimidate and discourage you at every turn, not to mention the fact that the process repeatedly violates your charter rights.
 
little ruddiger, no offence but it sounds like you had a really poor time trying to get recruited.... no sense in trying to discourage everyone from being a police officer simply because you couldnt get hired.

it seems that there is always people who are bitter from being rejected, once again.. no sense in discouraging other people who want to succeed.

if you look around hard enough, you know there are many avenues... goto school, enter an auxillary or cadet program, be the son of a high-ranking official :)

take it easy ruddiger
 
I was not really trying to discourage people from pursuing their dreams I just want to point out how flawed the recruiting system and PFP are. I feel that policing and security are of vital importance in this country and the way it is being conducted is ridiculous.

When I was in PFP there was thousands of others in the same boat as me granted the majority weren't really that serious about a career in law enforcement and\or, as pointed out by others here, not physically or mentally up to the task.

It seemed to me then and now what a waste it was for these young people showing the dedication to pay for and attend school for two years and were left flopping in the wind at the end. The same way I felt when attending ATS testing, here are people obviously showing at least some interest in law enforcement and the police services themselves showing no interest in them and removing themselves from their own hiring process.

The OACP, police services and Ministry of CSCS should be taking a more active role in PFP at community colleges because that is where you pick the apples from the tree. If the recruiting process began with college admission and there was interaction with recruiters, students and instructors over the two years before graduation that would be a much better assessment of the applicants skills, abilities and dedication.

The current recruiting process is arbitrary and fickle decision are being made by an NCO who doesn't want to work nights and who doesn't  have to justify there actions to anyone especially not the applicant. The security industry is worse because it is public safety provided by the lowest bidder, and in many cases it shows. Security companies have no standards other than be 18, no record and entitled to work in Canada. That is why in most cases you can make more money at McDonald's or Tim Horton's and I am dead serious about that.

Police services in this country are shrinking, look it up. At the same time that security guards now out number police by about 5 to 1 in Canada and that number is growing. I gave up on being a police officer because I was tired of giving ATS $70.00 every 6 months to keep my PREP up to date, while police recruiters were telling the newspaper that their are no good applicants left. So I re-entered the reserves and went back to get my masters degree, it has worked out for the best for me. Having said all that give it your best shot but beware that there are many pit-falls. And good luck.
 
Somebody is a bitter boy! :crybaby:
The "I'm a white guy I don't have a chance" faded about five years ago.  It is simply a question of competition.  Who are you, the amazing Kreskin?  You don't know anything about the other applicants so who are you to say you should have been hired over them? 
Just because you showed up and got a diploma, you think that there should be a cadre of recruiters pounding at your door?  You need volunteer work, life experience and you have to ace the interview.  The interview is the most difficult part of the process, so if anyone wants to concentrate their efforts anywhere, work on your interview skills.  If you are under 25 years old, you should just be patient.  Most hires now are on average 28 years old plus or minus a year. 

"The only thing that will get you into a police service is unfortunately bootlicking and persistence. I used to want to be a cop and I know a great deal about the hiring process. It is very negative and designed to intimidate and discourage you at every turn, not to mention the fact that the process repeatedly violates your charter rights."

Wow, super bitter boy!  What is the Charter violation?  You are ASKING them to examine you!  I don't recall ever being ordered to take applications into the community and making people fill them out on pain of arrest for failing to.  No one is going to spoon feed you a job.  Get over it.  The people who make it are the ones who say "I will be an officer, it's just a matter of when" the go on to do whatever it takes.  I took me four years of constant applying and improving my resume.  A guy I got hired with took ten years and he was a jail guard (he kept getting crushed in the interview).  Out of the last fifty odd people that got hired to our service, there were about eight women and maybe five vis-mins. 

"Police services in this country are shrinking, look it up."

Okay, I'll look it up when you show me where to look.  However, I don't see me examining the inside of your ass, because that is where you pulled that tidbit up.  All over the country we are EXPANDING especially in Ontario.  This is the time to get on, because all of the baby boomer's are retiring and there is more money being sent to the police from the Ontario government.

"I gave up on being a police officer because I was tired of giving ATS $70.00 every 6 months to keep my PREP up to date, while police recruiters were telling the newspaper that their are no good applicants left. "

Way to hang in there and pursue your dreams.  Maybe the paper was right in your case.

You are being handed a $67,000 a year (plus overtime)  job with top shelf benefits and a huge responsibility to the community.  Of course it is hard to get in.  Everyone wants to be "in the game".  But only the people who demonstrate that they deserve to be in will get the brass ring.
 
To say that police and law enforcement are shrinking is a big no no... everyone and their dog has heard about the plan to hire # of officers across ontario in the next few years.

I know personally our local small town police service has already hired 1 officer due to this hand out of money.

 
Reference zipperhead cop above, how true, even the age you stated is true. My youngest went through Law & Security in Kanata. The white boy bit was very prevalent when he finished his course but he hung in there and like you say perseverance paid off.
Ruddiger, hiring in the police service is on the rise not the decline and if you have what they require (not what you think you have) but what they require you may get the chance to prove yourself.  Five years is a long wait, but worth it. Don't warn others off because you didn't make it.    ;)
 
Slow down zipperhead we are on the same side here. ;) No need to be nasty. In answer to your delicately worded queries; it is a violation of the Charter to discriminate based on ethnicity or gender, if you are a cop you should know that. After all the Charter is the paramount law of the land. The little "voluntary" questionnaire that asks you to self-identify based on race should be removed Under S.15.

I do believe that under represented segments of the population should be encouraged to apply. It is true the majority of hires, despite all the efforts to attract others, are white males and that is because the vast majority of applications are from white males. The numbers you quote from your service are not in line with most the services I have read about as far as tint and genitals of their new recruits but that is neither here nor there.

I also feel that those getting the jobs should be the best applicants and should have the character, skills and aptitudes that will serve them well on the street. My contention is that the police services are being lazy when it comes to determining this. Having more meaningfull involvement in the community college programs is a better way to see the potential in candidates. Contracting out your hiring process and a panel interview designed to scare them are not the best practices.

You are part right the police services in Ontario are hiring but they are not expanding. They have to hire because they have a serious staffing crisis. They barely hired any cops through the 80's and 90's and their staffing levels are critically low. Yet they act as though they have all the time in the world to sort it out. The RCMP is short 400 front-line officers a year right now. That is not a new or even all time high level of attrition for them and they are short by thousands. But don't take my word for it http://www.stevenfletcher.com/archives/000162.php

Toronto even worse off proportionately, but I am still looking for that article, I will find it. As for being bitter I am not I just see a very real problem that is not being dealt with intelligently by police managers. As for giving up on dream, yes I did because, I made a choice not to participate any further in a process I see as extremely flawed and arbitrary. If you want to be a cop giver' I am not deliberately tryin to discourage anyone, I am just callin 'em the way I see 'em. I am happy doing what I do, I still think about doing police work but there are other things in life.


 
I can understand how you see it as being a violation of the charter rights... but it IS voluntary... says so right on the form (I have one infront of me). It also states that this is used to determine just how many of their applicants are of a minority... this would help them to see if their recruiting practices are drawing the diversity they will need.
 
little ruddiger said:
It seemed to me then and now what a waste it was for these young people showing the dedication to pay for and attend school for two years and were left flopping in the wind at the end. The same way I felt when attending ATS testing, here are people obviously showing at least some interest in law enforcement and the police services themselves showing no interest in them and removing themselves from their own hiring process.

The OACP, police services and Ministry of CSCS should be taking a more active role in PFP at community colleges because that is where you pick the apples from the tree. If the recruiting process began with college admission and there was interaction with recruiters, students and instructors over the two years before graduation that would be a much better assessment of the applicants skills, abilities and dedication.

Please tell me where its says that a potential applicant MUST take police foundations to get on a service in Ontario.  Oh whats that you can't, because there is NO requirement for anybody to waste thier money on police foundations training.  Yeah thought so. Its NOT the responsibility of any police service to make sure you have a job waiting for you when/if you graduate from a PFP/LASA program.  Also do you even know why most police services follow the OACP testing.  It is to ensure a STANDARD test across the board, so an applicant can apply to many services without having to take a dozen different tests for each one.  It also ensures the smaller services don't have to spend limited resources on administering these test on a regular basis.  You may not like the fact that you have to redo a fitness every six months and pay ATS, but the simple fact is physical fitness is perishable.  As well ATS charges the same amount for testing as the OPP does (and Toronto when they did OACP testing).  Don't like testing with ATS go test with the OPP.

The current recruiting process is arbitrary and fickle decision are being made by an NCO who doesn't want to work nights and who doesn't  have to justify there actions to anyone especially not the applicant. The security industry is worse because it is public safety provided by the lowest bidder, and in many cases it shows. Security companies have no standards other than be 18, no record and entitled to work in Canada. That is why in most cases you can make more money at McDonald's or Tim Horton's and I am dead serious about that.

Right ::) How about you fill in your profile, or at least explain how it is that you came to the conclusion the recruiting process is "arbitrary" and the "fickle decisions" are being made by lazy NCO.  Do you know any recruiters personally? (I do, a former D/Sgt from TPS recruiting is one of my college profs)  Have you ever worked in police recruiting?  Until you tell us who you are, no one is going to take anything you say seriously, because you just sound like someone who is bitter about not being hired by a police service.  Get over yourself and just deal with the fact that you were simply not good enough to get hired.  The fact is the recruiters DO have to justify thier actions to those who are above them (thier immediate supervisor usually a Sgt/SSGt, who then has to get approval of the HR manager). 

As to the security angle, again what is your experience working in this field?  Because again your generalizing, and do not know what you are talking about.  Are there some companies that have very low standards as you describe.  Yes there are, but they are in the minority.  I have worked for a few companies and each one had thier own internal training programs that covered a wide range of areas (use of force, powers of arrest, TPA, handcuffing, baton training, K9 training, etc.) as well their is legislation in the works that will make training a mandatory requirement  (its in third reading I believe and should be passed in a few months).


Slow down zipperhead we are on the same side here. ;) No need to be nasty. In answer to your delicately worded queries; it is a violation of the Charter to discriminate based on ethnicity or gender, if you are a cop you should know that. After all the Charter is the paramount law of the land. The little "voluntary" questionnaire that asks you to self-identify based on race should be removed Under S.15.

Like you said voluntary, you don't like it, don't fill it out.

I do believe that under represented segments of the population should be encouraged to apply. It is true the majority of hires, despite all the efforts to attract others, are white males and that is because the vast majority of applications are from white males. The numbers you quote from your service are not in line with most the services I have read about as far as tint and genitals of their new recruits but that is neither here nor there.

Wait now you are contridicting yourself, becuase you earlier stated that white males have no chance of getting on (based on your own failed attempts), but now you have come to the realization that is not in fact the case.

I also feel that those getting the jobs should be the best applicants and should have the character, skills and aptitudes that will serve them well on the street. My contention is that the police services are being lazy when it comes to determining this. Having more meaningfull involvement in the community college programs is a better way to see the potential in candidates. Contracting out your hiring process and a panel interview designed to scare them are not the best practices.

Again what experience do you have to make the statement that police services are not selecting the best candidates for the job?  The fact that you weren't hired?  That doesn't cut it.  Have you researched/compared other recruiting methods and how they relate to the current methods in use now ?  Have you studied officers who have made it through this process and compared them (on the basis of any number factors like how many civillian complaints lodge against them over time, arrest and clearance records, commendations received etc.) to officers who have gone through other recruiting processes.  Again until you can show us your experience as it relates to designing/studying/implement recruiting policies your opinions and statements will come off as nothing more than a bitter, failed applicant.

 
First to Sappo, because he has been polite. I am skeptical as to the "voluntary" nature of the questionnaire because I would suspect that not returning that portion of the application would likely land your application in the garbage. Can I prove this, no but as been pointed out again and again this is a highly competitive process limited space and tons of applications. Surely this is a quick way to thin the pile of "qualified" applicants.

As for Hatchet Man's thoughtful and articulate comments; nowhere did I indicate that PFP is a pre-requisite for being hired by a police service. So stop dancing because I don’t know where you got that from.

I do know the history behind the Constable Selection System and it makes some sense, my objection is to the price of testing and the fact that it is contracted to ATS. Yes the OPP do it too but the cost is the same. RCMP testing is similar and is given at no cost to an applicant. Peel Regional Police do there own tests, at no charge, which is superior and more involved. RCMP or Peel is scored instead of a pass/fail and neither look at OACP certificates.

Yes, I have known Police Recruiters and one admitted to me that under the current policies he would not get hired. As to the belaboured issue of visible minorities and your assertion that I am contracting myself, I am not. The vast majority of applications are from white males but the level of successful applications from people other than that segment of the population is disproportionately higher, good or bad that is the way it is. Again I never said you had no chance I said you are a dime a dozen and you are.

As for the new Security Guard and Private Investigators Act in Ontario it received third reading and Royal Assent on December 15, 2005 but has yet to be proclaimed (please do your research before you come talk to me). The old act stands until then so I hope you are not carrying a collapsible baton that’s a no no. The reason you have cuffs is because they weren’t regulated before and once training is mandatory your boss will yank them from your belt. Whether they return or not is up to your boss, but I would like to know did your boss pay for the all that impressive training or did you?

Although there are a few good parts to the new act, like portability of licences, there are no guarantees of decent and safe working conditions of front-line staff. No standard living wage and no recognition that private firms, who are not accountable to the public, are taking over more and more responsibility from the public police.

If you continue in private security (perhaps with another company because it sounds like you have trouble holding down a job) the new act may very well have you wearing pleaded polyester pants and a tweed jacket with elbow patches and a giant reflective patch on back that says “NOT A COP KICK ME”. That is what groups like the OACP want because I am sure that your current uniform is too "police-like" and that is a big problem to them.

But we have gotten off topic here the fact is that I have presented an alternative to what happens now with PFP at Community Colleges. As yet no one has made an argument against what I proposed. The Paramedic Program that was in the same building as us impressed me and the local EMS were up to there elbows with those guys. They were uniformed tons of field placement, very hands on and a tough course to pass. When they did pass they had everything they needed to apply right out of college. Why is it so far fetched to see some real improvement in PFP and graduate with pride, ready to apply because the course was relevant and useful to the student and the police? The fact that some people have attacked my post here only because I freely admitted having withdrawn my application indicate to me they believe my idea is sound. If it isn’t than tell me where you think my proposition is wrong or needs improving.

As for looking into different variables affecting recruiting and employment out-comes in policing. Thanks sounds like a great idea maybe I can work that into my thesis.

As to me filling in my profile.

Like you said voluntary, you don't like it, don't fill it out.

If people don’t take what I say seriously how is that my problem after all they are only opinions in space.

 
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