Elias, with his excellent study habits, immerses himself in a full schedule of theory-based classes at the Ontario Police College, understanding the relevance of each lesson in his future career. The WRPS Training and Education branch members visit the recruiting class just after mid-term marks have been released. Amanda, reflecting on her time at the college, emphasizes how knowledge was the foundation of her future learning and its practical application in her job.
Rachel This is Into the Blue – A podcast about becoming an officer with the Waterloo Regional Police Service.
For each episode, we start with a theme and bring you two perspectives – one from an officer in training and another from an officer in the community.
In this episode, it's all about hitting the books and working on those academic skills.
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Rachel I'll welcome back our digital content coordinator, Mark.
Mark Hi, Mark. Hey, Rachel. How's it going today?
Rachel Pretty good. How are you?
Mark I'm great. So, as you know, we've been following two officers that have really been helping us tell this story about becoming a full-time officer who can work both independently and as a team in the community. So, we learned early on that an enthusiastic learner is going to feel right at home in policing. Rachel, like, how important is of that learning? I mean, at the beginning and just continuous learning throughout the job as an officer.
Rachel Yeah it is. Honestly your learning never ends. You know, everything that you're doing on patrol, every call is going to be a little bit different. You're going to be reaching out to people who, you know, know better than you. So, you can learn from them. Any investigative unit you go into or series of courses that you're going to take in order to be able to, you know, do those types of investigations, search warrant courses, investigative interviewing courses, forensic interviewing, like the list goes on and on.
So, as you go through your career, you're continuously, you know, being sent on courses and doing more learning, just to help you grow as an officer. So, it's absolutely super important that continuous learning and having a thirst for it.
Mark Perfect. Yeah. And we're going to go I mean, we're going to go see Elias who we're following down at the Ontario Police College. We're kind of going back in time from your position to his position. He's right at the beginning of the kind of process, and he's really learning a ton down at the college. So he's been kind enough to let me follow along for a few of those classroom academic classes, and all sorts of subjects.
Elias See, I thought we were going to be working out every single day. Every single day, like the typical movies, but it really is. And it's really like a college setting where once again, you do have those physical demands, whether it's on your own time, conducting your workouts or during the assigned class of physical training and wellness. However, I think it is a nice balance just because we got some of the information before coming into from Waterloo, which amazing pre-OPC. I don't know. It's definitely a balance of both. Some days are more heavy on the academic side, where you're sitting in the class all day, and then you'll start missing the practical side, and then one day you'll have almost all practical. Then it's like, okay, where's that balance? But, most of the time it's really balanced.
Some classes, academic classes consist of federal law, provincial law, and Traffic Highway Act. Whether you are opening book, finding the Act regulation specifically to each scenario that you're provided with or just learning the navigation of each book. So, it's heavily reliant and dependent on every day of a front-line police officer.
Mark So Eliza's schedule at the college is it's pretty full and on top of attending class. He spends a lot of time in the evenings preparing for those days and weeks ahead. How full is your is your day? Would you say.
Elias Pretty full. If you have, you'll always have something to be doing, whether it you be preparing for the next day or following up on homework and not falling off the wagon per se. but it's pretty busy. The day does fly by, but you always want to make sure you're consistent with your timings and make sure you're not late.
They say 15 minutes early on time on time is late.
Mark I was able to join him to several of the classes. like traffic theory, domestic violence, and some ethics ones. One I found really insightful into the that learning process was the domestic violence or, sometimes what we call it here at WRP, is intimate partner violence. I've worked at the service for several years, and several project related to intimate partner violence.
And you can really take for granted how complex that subject can be, especially for somebody who's never been experienced to it. And, and for this class, it's really their first exposure to anything related to domestic violence, not just in their policing career, but potentially in their lives.
Instructor I think the first class, what they're trying to learn is just the understanding of what the definition of domestic violence is, because by understanding it, then they know how to handle that call, though. And the other part of that is I think it's really important that they understand what is an intimate relationship, because it does it changes the way we handle things.
Mark The domestic violence class just so happened to be the very first one that I attended in, in a series of seven. The instructor Clemencia, it worked hard using group exercises and discussions to get the class to simply get to a definition and an understanding of what intimate partner violence is, both from a legal sense and actually like a practical sense. You could really see as some of the class members struggling at the beginning, but the instructor carefully guided them to something that was kind of a usable understanding.
Clemencia This is a, for those who like a definitive way of learning. So in other words, definitions, more formal. I gave them the formal definition. Then we put it into a practical scenario and then just talking about it. I think the takeaway is understanding that violence is not accepted, and that we have a responsibility and an obligation to ensure that the victim is always safe.
So I think that is the most important thing to know, that we just can't walk away, that we do have responsibilities that have been given to us by the Government. And it's read in our police Standards Manual LE-024 that we have obligations. Once we know that definition is met and the reasons why we have those obligations.
Mark So IPV or intimate partner violence is a good example of academic learning. Instructors work to take people who are completely new, in most cases, to anything relating to the law and bring them to a point where they can use it, or at the very least, have a starting understanding when they become a patrol officer. At the same time, they've been taking traffic law since the start and Elias is next session. was a practice exam for his, upcoming midterms.
Elias I feel like you can never be prepared for a midterm. You can do what your best is for. So there's just multiple different situations that are given to you, and you need to identify them with section or regulations. As part of the Highway Traffic Act. In terms of difficulty, the levels of it, if you do your work, you should be able to complete it.
But no matter what situations given to you, you're always going to be stressed and you're always going to be second guessing yourself to ensure - is this the right section? Because there's so many exemptions and the different type of things that come along with it as well. I think they do a great job to try to have a plan in motion as every week goes by, everything keeps adding on like a puzzle. I wouldn't say it's overly difficult, you just need to comprehend and understand information versus just try to memorize it for the sake of knowing it.
I think that's a great differentiator between this style of learning versus a university setting style of learning, because everything you're learning is going to be applied on the streets, and it's going to be whether it's for your safety or job security or legally criminally charged. Like you need to know this stuff because this is the bread and butter of policing.
Mark So when I left the college that Friday evening, Elias and his classmates were all making plans for weekend studying. it sounded like they were all planning on staying there over the weekend just to be prepared for the Monday midterm exams.
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Mark Now, we fast forward a few days, and I thought I'd join our, training unit on their trip down to the college to visit the class. The midterm exam marks had just been released a few hours earlier. They're actually on paper, and they're reviewing them in the van as we're kind of driving there. So, we all piled into the minivan and headed down to Aylmer.
Mark What are we up to today?
Matt Se are going down to the Ontario Police College. We just received their midterm marks. So, what we do is let them know what their marks are, as well as let them know what their divisional assignments are. Their staff sergeants and their coach officers. What?
We do this every midterm. We come. just do a check in on you guys, make sure everything's going good. I know it's, we're now an hour and a half away from Waterloo, so it's a long 13 weeks here. So, we're here to do a check in…
Mark The visit just kind of seems run of the mill. for Elias and others in the class. I know it means a lot to them. And it really shows how the training unit stays invested in each of the recruits success. Kind of during their time at the college.
Elias I know the staff sergeants, came up right after midterms to provide us assigned divisions, but also check up on how we're doing. And we had one on one interviews, which is really nice because it's really personable and it truly shows that they're really invested.
Mark For many attending police college means putting the rest of their lives on hold. And for Elias, that's no different. How is your life outside policing going right now?
Elias It's pretty tough. you try to keep socially with, you know, the life that you come in before policing, but, you know, you become busy and you separate kind of life in a way. Just you focus on your policing. And that's only three months out of 30 years of this entire career. So, it may be tough right now, just not be able to go home as often and actually just wanting to succeed in what you have to put the time in.
I like the back of the name tags that Ontario Police College gives you, and it says these sessions are designed for you to benefit the most out of. So, how much work you put in. It's what you get out of it. And I think that's true. some people do not do. Well, simply because they did not put the time or they think it's an easy slope to get through.
And they've seen that performance. When the midterm marks come back, you need to be on top of things in order to really succeed in this, in preparing for the profession and getting onto the road, many.
Mark While the training unit is checking in on their academic process, they're also checking up on their wellness and their ability to kind of cope down at the college during this time.
Matt Well, OPC can be a stressful time. They're down there for 13 weeks. So, this is really a check in in the middle of the, their time down there so we can see how their wellness is, see how they're coping with being away from their homes or families. make sure that they are still committed to doing their best and that the Ontario Police College and remind them that they are supported here, even though they are an hour and a half away from the Waterloo Regional Police.
Mark So hands down, there's a lot of information to learn at the college. Well, it's not hard in a university sense. The sheer volume means you can't allow yourself to get behind.
Elias How is there homework that needs to be have done for that class? Communication is key because you have pods here. Pods can consist of ten others, not just from your service, but any other service as well. You need to be able to communicate and build that support system because they truly do become your family. Even by week one.
Communication is key. Organization, time management I know those are clichés are skills that you need to be so good at, but it's true once you get here. If you're not organized, you take off your foot off that pedal you're going to get behind. I remember one day I was like, I just need a rest day. I felt like I was behind a week just because of all the workbooks and all the questions, because the Ontario Police College is they provide your resources and they're so good at supporting you. Even the instructors after class, they want to see you succeed, but you also have your own responsibility to be on par with that knowledge, and especially drinking out of the firehose of knowledge, as they call it, because there is so much to being a police officer and they're trying to give it to you all in 13 weeks, whether it's physical or academia.
So time management is key, and also communication and organization skills.
Mark All right, Rachel, do you remember your time at OPC, the amount of stuff you had to digest when you're down there?
Rachel Yeah, I do, it was definitely a lot of new information, especially, you know, for me, I had no knowledge of, you know, I didn't take Police Foundation, so it was all brand-new stuff for me. But, you know, as Elias mentioned, you're in pods with the groups of people who really did come together to study together and support each other, which I found very helpful.
There's a lot of repetition, too. Right? So, the repetition, you know, every time you're in a scenario, you're going over your authorities again that you've gone over in your academic class. So that's really helpful. So, it's definitely, you know, a lot of information to kind of absorb during that time, but it's absolutely doable.
Mark And remember, we're also following Amanda. So, she was just that college, same college just two years ago. She kind of reiterated that same focus, that same need to stay focused, for that very short time that you're actually there.
Amanda I had a post-secondary education, so I wasn't expecting it to be challenging. However, I like focused. When I was down there each night, I was studying and took it very seriously because if you don't, it can be difficult if you don't put in the time. It really is a lot of information. They're cramming everything into the three months.
Mark So it's kind of. But is it useful? Is that stuff coming back and helping you in your job?
Amanda from OPC, definitely. In the beginning stages, it's like that base foundation. I think most of your learning comes from when you're on the road, because, yeah, you're just learning everything from your coach officer, but you still need that base from OPC. Like you wouldn't be able to just come from, without that foundation. Like it is very important.
I think OPC is a reflection of how much work you put in, but if you're not technically a very academic person, it could be different from you could have great interpersonal skills and still do. Okay. So, I think if you just put in the effort and maybe that it's not reflecting in your marks there, you may still do okay on the road.
However, if you don't care at all, and then you come and you still don't care and you have a negative attitude, then it may be difficult.
Mark If there's one thing I take away from speaking with kind of everyone who's gone there and is out on the road today, is that I'd say being a police officer demands having a strong academic knowledge and kind of those range of topics, everything from traffic laws to arrest authorities to the drivers behind intimate partner violence. if you remember from our last episode, I told you about a shoplifting call that Amanda took.
Although it seemed so simple on the surface, she was really using a lot of those things she learned in her academic classes to guide what she does.
Mark What are kind of some of the skills that, you know, you learned at OPC/post-OPC that help you do that call?
Amanda So you learn your authority so you have to know grounds to arrest someone or what reasonable grounds are and your authority to arrest someone in that calm with, the charges theft under. So, taking the product without, paying for it or making no attempt to pay, that would be something that you would learn at OPC.
Mark And this is just kind of one example. Every call is different, potentially requires knowledge from a vast assortment of laws, practices and procedures. As you can imagine, all these things constantly changing too. And it doesn't stop when you finish your new officer training.
Amanda So often we get updates, that can be through emails, through our bosses. we have learning courses, that can update us, as well as just taking the time ourselves to maybe read up on if it's a new case law. and there I'm there's plenty of things in this job that you don't know, but you just take the time to read it, whether it's in your, highway traffic act, the criminal code or looking it up elsewhere through policy or procedure.
Mark Thoughts on that. Rachel, does that seem reflective of what? What you do when you're out on the road?
Rachel Yeah, yeah, I agree with what Amanda said. I think also, it's good to remember that if the call you're going to is not an emergency call, you have the time to slow things down. So, there's some calls you go to that you may not go to very often. So, you know take that time to pull out our policy and procedures, see what our expectations are at the call.
Or if, you know, there's a criminal offense that is happening or that has happened, and you're trying to determine, you know, which one it fits in the criminal Code the best, pull out your criminal code, look at it, you know, call a more senior officer on your shift. Ask their opinion. So you know, non-priority calls do give you that gift of time to sort things out. So, that you kind of respond to it the best you can.
Mark And, I can imagine there's some calls where there isn't time for that. That's right. And you're kind of relying on that, knowledge that you've absorbed, probably partly through OPC, partly through training, and probably just on the road. Right.
Rachel An experience. Yeah for sure. And remember, every priority call you're going to you're going to with a team of other people. So, you know, if you're not quite sure there's you know most likely somebody else there who already knows how to act and you kind of follow their lead and, and they can give you some direction. So, you know, we are a big team. So, it there's always somebody there for you.
Mark And I think the learning just it just seems to them doesn't stop.
Rachel That's right.
Mark So even on patrol you're you might be learning from somebody else on that shift. way over and above those basics. You got way back at the college.
Rachel Yeah, absolutely. For sure.
Rachel So we will leave Amanda analyzed there for now, and we'll check back with them in the next episode. We're going to pick up with Elias at the college as he starts putting together the academic and hands on skills in some dynamic situations, and we'll pick up with Amanda as she takes to the road to take more calls for service.
Rachel Mark, thanks for joining me. Can't wait to hear what's coming up next.
Jen Into the Blue is production by the Waterloo Regional Police Service. It is hosted by Rachel Molnar and produced, reported and edited by Mark Araujo. Supervising director is Cherri Greeno.
Special thank you to the entire dedicated training team at the Ontario Police College, as well as the WRPS Training and Education Branch – without their collaboration this production would not be possible.