OPP ramp up hiring as hundreds of officers set to retire

Morning North7:55Recruiting a top priority for OPP

The OPP is set to lose over a thousand officers to retirement in the next couple of years. We contacted OPP commissioner Vince Hawkes to talk about recruitment effort to replenish the force.

Recruiting more officers will be at the top of the priority list for the OPP in the coming year.

The police force serves communities across the province, and is dealing with a high rate of retirement among officers.

OPP commissioner Vince Hawkes said that number of retirees will have a big impact on the force.

“We're actually estimating that there will be over 1,000 uniformed officers eligible to retire by the end of 2017,” he said.

“So a significant number of our workforce, with over 6,000 uniformed members. That's a very high percentage.”

The prospect of more opportunities is good news for young people interested in a career in policing.

Gary Spooner, who teaches in the police foundations program at Cambrian College in Sudbury, said there haven't been a lot of openings on many police forces in recent years.

“With the budget restraints that have been predominant in all ministries, in all governments, in municipalities, it has slowed down the hiring a little,” he said.

“The larger police services have always hired some, but in reduced numbers.”

A class of nearly 100 new officers will join the OPP in the new year.

But Hawkes said people can expect to see recruitment events across the north in 2015. Some of the recruiting efforts will reach out specifically to people from northern Ontario.

“If you hire an individual who is from the south, and then we transfer them to the north then they may be spending all of their time getting back to the south,” he said.

“It's more ... cost effective, but you have employees who are really interested in being up north.”