Looking forward to 'making a difference': Edmonton Police recruits graduate
Forty-eight new Edmonton police recruits graduated Friday. Class 160 is one of the largest classes EPS has had.
Edmonton police said they are getting a lot of applicants and are hiring more to "meet the demands and the staffing issues that we're facing."
"We have been approved and are being encouraged to train more recruits," EPS Staff Sgt. Travis Kerr said.
"We definitely need more people, there's no question, the city's growing, it's getting busier."
Along with larger class sizes, the recruits are coming from more diverse backgrounds, according to Kerr.
"We're getting recruits that are born in other countries, not just within different parts of Canada, but different parts of the world," Kerr said.
"I've been working in this area for almost two years, five graduations now, and it never ceases to amaze me when I hear the bios of these recruits and just the wide variety of experiences and diversity that they have."
Many EPS recruits have previous experience as a first responder, like Stephanie Meacham, who was a volunteer police officer in Cambridge in the United Kingdom.
"I've always been very community focused, working through volunteering for the police where I used to live, but also sports teams, anything, really, that I could volunteer for," Meacham said.
"Now this being my home, I want to be able to help the communities that I'm going to live in."
She said things are a bit different here and training had its challenges, but the class, as a team, helped and supported each other.
That sense of community is something Jeffery Fox, who previously worked with the RCMP, enjoys.
"Having people available all the time to be able to kind of back you up, and basically complete the task that we need to get done … It's a good organization," Fox said.
He added that EPS tends to have more service calls and more to deal with at the same time, compared to RCMP, so the larger numbers are helpful.
"I'm looking forward to everything, honestly, just learning more that we're going to go through and especially just getting out into the community and hopefully making a difference out there and helping the people that really need it."
EPS usually has two or three recruit classes a year.
Graduates go through 27 weeks of academy foundations training.
Earlier this year, police said recent recruit classes have seen a 93 per cent success rate.
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Nav Sangha
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
DEVELOPING Israel launches strikes on military targets in Iran, escalating Mideast wars
Israel launched airstrikes early Saturday on what it described as military targets in Iran in retaliation for a ballistic missile assault Oct. 1, officials said. There was no immediate information on damage in the Islamic Republic.
DEVELOPING Scotiabank confirms outage for mobile, online banking
Scotiabank has confirmed outages affecting mobile and online banking services, according to a statement published to its X account.
'I did everything I could': Canada Post driver recounts helping save woman from fiery Tesla crash
Canada Post driver Rick Harper recounts how he and others helped save a woman from a Tesla that caught fire after crashing into a guardrail on Lake Shore Boulevard.
An abrupt goodbye to a guerilla goldfish aquarium beneath a leaky Brooklyn fire hydrant
A makeshift aquarium that popped up this summer in a puddle beneath a leaky fire hydrant in New York City has been paved over, to the dismay of neighbours who turned the area into a hangout spot and goldfish shrine.
Climate change breaks heat records across Canada this summer
Human-caused climate change made almost all of Canada’s heat waves hotter and more likely, Environment and Climate Change Canada said in an announcement Friday.
Mother who beat and starved her 5-year-old son to death sentenced to over 50 years in prison
A New Hampshire woman was sentenced Friday to 53 years to life in prison in the death of her 5-year-old son, who was beaten, starved and exposed to drugs before his 19-pound body was found buried in a Massachusetts park in 2021.
'Get away from your inner circle': Liberal MP 'shocked' PM didn't take more time to reflect on calls to resign
Longtime Liberal MP Wayne Long says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should give more weight to the views of his backbenchers in determining his future leading the Party, rather than relying on those in his immediate orbit.
Mom and child jumped from a window to escape a Las Vegas fire that killed 2 children and 2 adults
Two adults and two children were found dead in the charred rubble of a house fire after a mother and another child jumped from a third-floor window to escape flames in a southwest Las Vegas neighborhood, authorities said.
Russian actors made fake video depicting mail-in ballots for Trump being destroyed, FBI says
Russian actors made a widely circulated video falsely depicting mail-in ballots for Donald Trump being destroyed in Pennsylvania, U.S. officials said Friday.