Training and certification: police college, cadet training and probation

Desjardins begins with a question for the class: when does a recruit become a police officer? Amara says when they are sworn in. Jesse says when they graduate from training. Marco says when they finish their probation. Priya says when they first make a decision alone that nobody can check. 'You are all right,' he says, 'which is the point. Becoming an officer is a process that takes a year or two after the offer. This lesson is about that process: the formal training, the certification, the field training that follows, and the probation that ends it.'

The path in Ontario and the RCMP

In Ontario, a person offered a position is hired by the service as a recruit, sworn in, and paid while training. Most services run an orientation period before sending recruits to the Ontario Police College in Aylmer for the basic constable training program, which is about twelve weeks long. The program covers law, police powers, use of force, firearms, defensive tactics, driving, investigation, report writing, communication and de-escalation, and it ends with examinations that recruits must pass. Ontario eliminated tuition for the basic constable program and increased the number of recruits trained each year, adding a fourth intake and raising each intake to about 550 recruits. After the college, recruits return to their services for further training on local procedures, equipment and systems, and then begin patrol with a coach officer. The RCMP's path is different. RCMP cadets complete a 26-week cadet training program at Depot, the RCMP Academy in Regina, where they live for the full program and train on evenings and weekends as well as weekdays. Graduates are then posted to a detachment, often far from home, where they complete a period of supervised field coaching.

Comparisons of training length should be made carefully. An hour of classroom instruction, an hour of scenario training and an hour of supervised field training are not the same thing, and a service that adds a long coach officer period after the college may give a recruit more preparation in total than an academy with more classroom hours. When students compare services, Desjardins suggests asking three questions: how long the formal training is, how much of it is practical, and how long the recruit works under a coach officer before patrolling alone.

The example uses the Ohio figures because they are published as hours. Ontario's twelve-week college program, at about forty hours a week of scheduled training, comes to roughly 480 hours, but recruits also train at their services before and after the college, so the total formal training before patrol is longer.

What training is like

Boyce describes training from the recruit's point of view. It is intense, structured and physically demanding. Days are long, with classroom learning, practical scenarios, physical training, driving and firearms. There are frequent tests, and recruits who fail examinations or practical assessments may be given a chance to remediate, but repeated failure can end their employment. Discipline matters: punctuality, uniform standards, respect for instructors and fellow recruits, and honesty about mistakes. At the college, recruits are graded on academic examinations, physical fitness and practical skills, and they must meet the college's standards to graduate.

Scenario training is the heart of modern police training. Recruits handle staged calls, a domestic dispute, a traffic stop, a person in crisis, with actors who respond to what the recruit does. Instructors then debrief the scenario, focusing on communication, decision-making, legality and safety. Desjardins notes that this is where everything in the program comes together: the law of arrest and search, the use-of-force framework, de-escalation, crisis response, and note-taking. 'You will be surprised how much of this program you will use in your first week of scenarios,' he says.

Coach officers and probation

Formal training is followed by supervised practice on the street. In Ontario services, new constables are paired with an experienced coach officer for their first months in patrol. The coach teaches local practice, models good work, gradually hands over responsibility, and reports on the recruit's progress. New constables remain on probation for a period set by the service, commonly around a year, during which they can be released if they are not suitable. At the end, they are confirmed as constables.

Boyce says that the coach or field training period is where many new officers learn the most and where some are lost. Common problems are poor report writing, unsafe habits, difficulty making decisions, and difficulty accepting feedback. 'In training, you were taught how,' she says. 'In the field, you learn when. Your coach is not your friend and not your enemy. Listen, ask questions, write things down and never hide a mistake.'

Preparing for training

Grant and Boyce give the students advice for the weeks before training starts. Arrive fit, ideally fitter than the hiring standard, because training is physically demanding and recruits who arrive at the minimum are more likely to be injured or to fail the graduation standards. Arrive rested. Settle family, finances and housing arrangements before training, because there will be little time during it. For the college, recruits live in residence during the week, and services usually provide a packing list. Review the basics from this program: the law of arrest, search and use of force, note-taking and report writing. Recruits who arrive able to write a clear report have a large advantage.

Desjardins adds something about attitude. Training environments are hierarchical and sometimes stressful by design. Recruits are expected to follow instructions, take criticism, and work as a team with people they did not choose. Most recruits find it rewarding; some find it hard. 'Be the recruit who helps the person struggling on the run, who admits when you got the scenario wrong, and who asks the question everyone else is afraid to ask,' he says. 'Your instructors are writing about you, and so are your classmates, whether they know it or not. Many of the people beside you will be your colleagues for thirty years.'

Lifelong training

Training does not end with probation. Officers complete regular requalification, such as annual use-of-force and firearms training, and mandatory training whenever laws, policies or equipment change. Many complete specialized courses for investigations, traffic, crisis intervention and other roles. In Ontario, the Community Safety and Policing Act and its regulations set training requirements for officers and for specific duties. Boyce tells the students that the officers who progress furthest are usually the ones who treat learning as part of the job, not an interruption to it.

What instructors look for

Boyce, who spent two years as an instructor before moving to recruiting, describes what instructors notice about recruits. They notice who arrives early and prepared, who helps classmates, who takes feedback without arguing and then changes what they do, and who tells the truth about a mistake in a scenario. They also notice recruits who talk over others, who try to look good rather than learn, and who treat role players and civilian staff with less respect than officers. 'Instructors write reports on every recruit,' she says. 'Those reports go back to the service and follow the recruit into their first posting. The coach officer will have read it before you meet.'

She also explains that failure in training is not always the end. Recruits who fail an examination or a practical assessment are usually given remedial training and another attempt. What ends careers in training is more often a pattern: repeated failures without improvement, dishonesty, or conduct problems. A recruit who struggles with the firearms qualification but practises every spare hour and passes on the second attempt has shown exactly the persistence the job needs.

Lateral and experienced officers

Not every new officer comes through the standard path. Experienced officers from other Canadian services can apply to Ontario services as experienced or lateral constables, and their previous training may be recognized, with shorter local training in place of the full college program. Officers trained in other provinces may need to complete parts of the Ontario curriculum. Desjardins mentions this because some of the students may start in one service and move to another later. 'Your first service is not necessarily your last,' he says. 'But the record you build there goes with you.'

Priya asks what happens to recruits who are injured during training. Boyce explains that services usually allow injured recruits to recover and rejoin a later intake, provided the injury heals and they can still meet the standards. A recruit who is injured but hides it, and then fails a practical assessment, is in a far worse position than one who reported the injury and was held back. 'Report injuries,' she says. 'Training instructors deal with them all the time. They do not deal well with being surprised.'

Desjardins closes the lesson by returning to his opening question. A recruit becomes an officer in law when sworn, in skill through training, in independence through coaching and probation, and in character through the decisions they make when nobody is checking. 'The first three happen to you,' he says. 'The last one you do yourself, every shift, for as long as you wear the badge.'

Costs and pay during training

Money during training is a practical worry for many students. Boyce explains that the arrangements differ widely. Ontario services hire recruits before sending them to the college, so recruits are usually paid from the date they are sworn in, and the province no longer charges tuition for the basic constable program. RCMP cadets live at Depot during training, and applicants should check the RCMP's current information on any allowance and costs before they apply. She suggests that every student find out exactly what their chosen route will cost and pay before they commit, and plan their finances for a period of long days and little flexibility.

Marco works out his family budget for the training period with his partner. Linh, who is not applying yet, realizes that her analyst path has a different cost: the certificate tuition and the risk of a gap between finishing it and finding a position. Both decide to keep their current jobs as long as possible, which Boyce says is exactly what she would advise.