Recruitment
Plan
January 2023
1. Introduction
2. Community Profile/Available Workforce
3. Recruitment
4. Objectives
5. Plan of Action
6. Administration
Introduction
The City of Brantford currently has an estimated population of 97,496
(2016 Census).
The Brantford Police Service is an equal opportunity employer and does
not discriminate in the hiring of its employees. The Service is committed to
recruiting and hiring only the most highly qualified of candidates.
Highly-qualified personnel who receive professional training, supervision and
written policy guidance can be expected to successfully deliver effective law
enforcement and policing services within the City of Brantford.
Brantford police officers provide services to people who live, work, go
to school, visit and also to those who travel through the City. Brantford
police officers therefore serve a community which is ethnically, racially and
religiously diverse as is the area surrounding the City.
The Brantford Police Services Board and the Service believe that one
component of effective policing is an organization whose personnel reasonably
represent the diversity of the available workforce of the community it serves.
Purposeful recruitment of qualified candidates who represent the diversity of
the police service’s available workforce population is consequently one
strategy for effective policing. It is due to these beliefs that the
Recruitment Plan was developed with very specific objectives, as well as an
action plan to facilitate attaining those objectives.
This report focuses on the Brantford Police Service’s recruiting
processes, which will occur during the life of this plan in conjunction with
the Service Equal Employment Opportunity Plan. Annually, an analysis will be
undertaken to examine and assess the degree of success resulting from the
implementation of the recruitment action plan and the plan will be revised as
needed.
There is a high degree of mobility in the City of Brantford with an anticipated
population growth to occur resulting from the boundary adjustment that occurred
in January 2017. Over the last several years, Brantford has experienced a
population increase due to the completion of Highway 403, which links Windsor
to Toronto and the Niagara Region. Further, the price of houses in Brantford is
still relatively affordable compared to areas closer to Toronto. As a result,
many families have moved to Brantford and then commute to work in larger
metropolitan areas.
Brantford is also a hub for many smaller outlying communities. People
from these smaller communities travel to Brantford for employment purposes or
to enjoy restaurants, movies, shopping, leisure activities and entertainment
(performing arts, casinos, etc.); therefore, the source of the demographic
profiles of the available labour force for Brantford may not fully reflect all
of those we serve.
Community
Profile/Available Workforce
(The 2016 Statistics
Canada Census was used to calculate the following community profile and
available workforce data.)
The Police Service Act stipulates the criteria for hiring entry-level
police officers. Applicants are required to be a Canadian citizen or a
permanent resident of Canada, are at least 18 years of age, physically and
mentally able to perform the required functions, are of good moral character
and habit and have successfully completed at least four years of secondary
school education or its equivalent.
In addition, the applicants must possess a valid driver’s licence with
no more than six demerit points, have a current certification in CPR and first
aid, should possess a valid O.A.C.P. testing certificate and be able to pass a security clearance, background
investigation, credit and reference checks. Given all the aforementioned requirements
for employment as a police officer, the percentage of candidates who are
eligible from the population of the City of Brantford, is limited compared to
other careers or occupations in the City.
The data that could be reliably extracted from the Census for the purpose
of this Recruitment Plan reveals that the available workforce is 46,315
(Caucasian 38,135; Visible Minority 4,290; Indigenous 3,890).
The most current demographic statistics for Brantford are available at: www.statcan.gc.ca. Brantford
has a very diverse population with over 130 ethnic backgrounds living in our
community. According to Statistics Canada, the number of visible minorities in
Brantford in 2016 was 9,440 (9.7%).
Brantford is located just north of the Six Nations Reserve, one of the
highest populated reserves in Canada that is policed by the Six Nations Police
Service. The Brantford Police Service is cognizant of the difficulties of
attracting Indigenous applicants for whom there is a financial incentive to
police in First Nations communities.
In Brantford, Statistics Canada reports 5,395 people (5.5% of the population)
who were identified as Indigenous in the 2016 Census. The available workforce
will be those who meet the qualifications listed above.
In May 2018, 4% of police officers and 3% of recruits identified as
Indigenous throughout Canada. On that same day, 8% of officers and 12% of
recruits in Canada self-identified as belonging to a visible minority group.
Because our utilization analysis deals directly with the ethnic and
gender makeup of personnel, this report addresses the recruiting practices
of the Service that contribute to its current makeup. The available workforce
demographics of the City are reflected in the chart below. The available
workforce is determined by taking the population data listed in the 2016 Census
for the same age group for each of Caucasian, Visible Minority and Indigenous
peoples. Although Statistics Canada does not break down the data to exactly
match the age requirements to be a police officer in Ontario, the largest age
group of the total population (25-54) was used to ensure consistency in amongst
the status categories. Criminal records,
physical ability (fitness), driving records and other background information
that would preclude a candidate have not been factored in.
|
|
Indigenous
|
Visible Minority
|
Female
|
|
Available
Workforce
|
8.4%
|
9.3%
|
14% *
|
*National Association of Women in Law Enforcement (NAWLE)
Our Service numbers compare closely with the nationwide female law
enforcement availability rate of 15% given by the Commission on Accreditation
for Law Enforcement Agencies and the availability rate of 14% as provided by
the National Association of Women in Law Enforcement.
The Brantford Police Service has long attempted to employ a recruiting
campaign designed to remove barriers and attract all qualified candidates for
the position of entry-level police officers.
Our recruiting methods have entailed advertising through various media
sources. We attend job fairs inside and
outside of the City, we use organizational contacts of various post-secondary
institutions to solicit our employment opportunities and we have recently produced
a recruiting video that displays both sworn officer and civilian employment
opportunities with our Service.
The use of social media, the Service’s website and the Ontario
Association of Chiefs of Police certificate testing website reaches candidates
far beyond the boundaries of the City of Brantford. A large portion of the
applicants reside a significant distance from the City and hear of the
Service’s hiring processes through the aforementioned recruiting methods.
Objectives
The Brantford Police Service has established the following objectives
for this plan:
- Attract quality applicants representative of
the demographic composition of the available workforce in Brantford to
our recruitment pool, with the objective of increasing their
representation in our ranks.
- Approximating within the sworn ranks the
demographic workforce composition of the community we serve.
In order to meet the aforementioned objectives, the following are
strategies that will be used:
- Utilize the newly produced recruiting video as a platform to
display career opportunities within our Service
- Value different perspectives and experiences as an asset to
policing
- Depict visible minorities and women in Service publications
whenever possible
- Engage non-traditional
recruitment initiatives with university and college sites for identifying creative
and motivated female and minority student applicants; computer technology,
science, sporting organizations
- Involve female officers and officers of visible minority status
within the Service to actively encourage recruitment of potential
candidates through meaningful interactions
- Engage with local high school representatives to improve communication
and establish future career opportunities in policing for students who
reside in our community
- Create organizational awareness and support for an inclusive focus throughout
the entire Service
- Include in recruiting advertisements that the Brantford Police
Service is an equal opportunity employer
The Inspector i/c Administrative Support Branch shall be responsible
to administer the recruitment plan by overseeing the recruitment and the
selection process and ensuring the annual analysis is completed.