Policing workshop deemed success

The Rainy River District OPP hosted a recruitment workshop entitled “Pathway to Policing” here Saturday.
Nineteen participants from across Northwestern Ontario attended the event in Fort Frances, including some from as far away as Balmertown, Sioux Lookout, Kenora, and Dryden.

Confederation College provided the location for the event so those interested in policing could hear from a wide variety of keynote speakers in a supportive learning environment.
Supt. Ron van Straalen, from North West Regional Command, began the session with a welcome to the candidates and shared stories from his own policing experiences.
Sgt. Darryl Wilson from OPP Recruitment provided an overview of the application process, including basic conditions of employment and Certificate of Results testing, including information pertaining to general aptitude testing, the written communications test, the physical readiness evaluation, and the behavioural assessment process.
Cst. Sue Cain, a Technical Traffic Crash Investigator and Reconstructionist, provided in-depth information pertaining to her specialized training and accreditations available through employment with the OPP.
She intrigued the group with examples of some of the serious crashes she’s investigated over the years.
Cst. Ronni Grosenick, a Kenora Community Services Officer, spoke about her specialty training as a hostage negotiator and her work in conjunction with the Emergency Response Team.
Cst. Heidi Struzenberger travelled from the Nipigon OPP detachment to speak about general law enforcement as a patrol officer and her experience responding to calls for service.
Cst. Anne McCoy, meanwhile, spoke to the candidates about building their résumés with respect to community involvement. She led the group through a problem-solving senario that challenged them to think about mobilizing community stakeholders to help solve the issue at hand.
In addition, Cst. Chris Halverson and his K-9 partner, “Diesel,” captured the attention of candidates when they gave a demonstration during the lunch hour.
The pair demonstrated their training, and gave an opportunity to ask the officer questions about their work experiences, living and working with the dog, and the requirements of this specific specialty unit.
After lunch, there was a question-and-answer period with officers, including Sgt. Shelley Garr, the Northwest Regional Community Services Officer co-ordinator/media relations in small group break-out sessions.
The exercise gave the participants a chance to ask questions pertaining to work experiences, balancing family life as a police officer, wages and benefits, training opportunities, and the application process, as well as hear stories about answering calls for service.
We feel the session was a success and the OPP officers were pleased to offer the event to help the participants decide if policing is right for them.
Future sessions will be held within the Northwest Region.
More information is available through the www.opp.ca website under careers/information sessions